An Indoor Track Facility In Town Would Be "Ideal," But Is It A Possibility?

Earlier this year, when the Board of Education and school administrators were debating where the Manchester High School indoor track team could practice if they were no longer allowed to do so in the school’s hallways, almost everyone agreed that an indoor track facility would be the ideal solution to the problem. Unfortunately, almost everyone also agreed that due to budgetary and space constraints, that solution was unlikely to become a reality anytime soon.

Now, however, an effort is underway to establish a permanent indoor track and athletic facility in town that could be used not just by the MHS track teams but other athletic teams and community organizations.

Stephen Gates, president of the Manchester PTSA, and Thayer Redman, MHS’ long-time track coach, said they started talking about establishing just such a facility shortly after Superintendent Kathleen Ouellette on Dec. 15 that the track teams discontinue their longstanding policy of practicing in the high school’s hallways.

Gates told Manchester Patch this week that the idea has moved from the “back of a napkin” to conceptual discussions in recent weeks as he and Redman have met with representatives from the town’s Parks & Recreation Department, the Senior Center, the Manchester Redevelopment Agency and the Manchester Road Race Committee in an effort to connect with a broad spectrum of the community and determine the needs and challenges of establishing such a facility.

“We’re at the point where we’re ready to take the next step,” said Gates, who was a former all-state track and cross country star at Manchester High School and ran collegiately at Eastern Connecticut State University. “And that’s if we were to pursue building this facility, or the renovation of a building that could house an indoor athletic facility, what are the needs of the other communities in town that could benefit from such a facility?”

Gates said no determination had been made yet on the scope, location, size or cost of such a facility, but that he and Redman hoped to begin finalizing many of those aspects of the proposal in the coming weeks and month, while engaging more and more members of the community to assist with the effort.

“I’m working with the community to find people to help us volunteer their time to take this to the next level,” said Gates, adding that he was looking for people who had experience with design, engineering, financing, community outreach, athletics, or simply a passion to get involved and improve the community and the high school.

Thayer, who also coached the boys indoor track team for 13 years before stepping down several years ago to spend more time with his family, called an indoor athletic facility a longtime “dream” of his, but also one that he thought many in the Manchester community shared because o f the town’s strong and tradition.

“Anyone who has ever run indoor track has dreamed of a field house. There are very few of them in the state,” Redman said. “There would definitely be a lot of interest. It would be utilized. But our thought too is more than just running, we want to have a facility that can be used by other athletic programs, as well as other organizations in the community. We’ve even talked about something that could host the graduation.”

MHS’s track teams had practiced and held competitive meets in the hallways of the high school for more than 40 years without a serious incident, but that policy came into question when the new season began in the fall in the wake of an accident involving an indoor track athlete at East Lyme High School. The East Lyme school system recently settled a lawsuit with that student-athlete's family for $325,000, while the school’s insurance consultant recommended that the high school discontinue the policy because it would lead to increased liability exposure.

Sine Ouellette’s recommendation, the teams have not been allowed to practice in the hallways, instead boarding a bus to the in Tolland several days a week, and training in the high school’s weight room, indoor gyms, pool, and sometimes even outdoors, on other days.

Both Gates and Redman feel that the change has hurt the program this year, and will continue to prove detrimental in the future.

“Track and field you have to run, you can’t just do it in the weight room. The program took a hit this year, without a doubt. The numbers were down and the team performance was down,” said Redman. “They just had a rough go of it. My heart breaks for those kids. There were days they just didn’t have a practice facility.”

Steve O'Reilly, in his second year as head coach of MHS’ indoor track team, disagreed with Redman’s assertion that the track team had an off year. O’Reilly said that most of his runners scored personnel bests this year, and that 6 boys and more than 10 girls qualified for the Class LL indoor championships Saturday at the New Haven Athletic Center, where several of his runners would probably place.

“We had a pretty good year, all things considered,” O’Reilly said. “We had a lot of uncertainty to start the season, but the guys and girls who stuck around had a pretty good year.”

Still, O’Reilly conceded that an indoor training facility in Manchester would be “ideal” for a number of reasons.

“That would be huge for us for training and huge to the program,” O’Reilly said. “But I don’t know how much of a reality it might, because of the budget and other things.”

But Gates and Redman say they are committed to finding a way to make many in Manchester’s dream of an indoor training facility in town a reality, and that you can never know how difficult it is to establish if you don’t pursue it.

“We’re still in the early stages, but we see a tremendous need in this town for a facility that can do a lot of things. The larger the facility, the more you can host,” Redman said. “We’re kind of planting seeds. This might not be right away. It might take 10 years.”