As he steps into the flooded room, the lights begin to flicker on and off; water drips from the ceiling, while a foul stench fills the air.
No, this is not a description of a typical scene in a horror flick; it’s actually the college’s athletic training room.
The training room, which is located near the entrance of the women’s locker room, was one of the buildings that was severely damaged by the rain.
“It’s an old building,” athletic director Dave Shannon said. “Our facilities team, as well as our athletic trainers, are working as best as they can to get it fixed.”
The storm that hit EC early in the year damaged much of the training room, causing tiles to fall from the ceiling, as well as damaging the carpet that once lay there.
“There’s a big demand campus-wide for our shops and facilities,” Shannon said. “The weather has also been a factor as it continues to rain even up to this month.”
To some, the athletic training room is more than just a building.
“It is a place where athletes can go for overall medical and athletic care,” Rory Natividad, certified athletic trainer, said.
For several weeks, the athletic training room had been closed so that it could be sanitized due to asbestos. Asbestos, which is used as a fireproof insulating material, is also linked to causing certain types of cancer.
With the fear of asbestos, Natividad and partner Mike Miller, certified athletic trainer, had to relocate their services to the Field House, which is adjacent to the baseball field. They spent a couple weeks there as the carpets were removed from the training room.
“Moving rooms was a bit difficult in the terms of dealing with a limited space. But now that we’re back in here, it’s status quo,” Natividad said.
The South Gym where the athletic room is located was built in 1979 and has suffered rain damages in the past.
Drainage problems seem to be the issue as water has collected up against the fiberboards, causing the walls to saturate.
Water always has a place to go, unfortunately for Natividad, it ended up in his office as the rain damaged his roof, allowing the water to seep through. Natividad actually came down during Christmas break to cover up his valuables from possible water damage.
Some may ask that if this were a problem back in December, why has it taken so long to be repaired?
“The Facilities Department has been doing everything it can to get this resolved. The problem is not that they don’t have enough workers to fix it, the problem is the rain,” Natividad said.
If the school was to have facility issues in the athletic training room, Shannon agreed that it would be better to face the problems now than in September.
September not only marks the beginning of the football season, but of all sports in general.
With future construction plans ahead, the long-term goal is to relocate the training room.
The long-run goal is to rebuild the field house with a built-in training room that would serve the following sports: football, baseball, men’s and women’s soccer as well as track and field.
Another training room is set to be centrally located near the Fitness Center, adjacent to the racquetball courts. This facility would serve softball, gym sports and the rest of the South Gym area.
The athletic training room is now sanitary and is available for use by the athletes. The only difference is that there is no carpet, which doesn’t seem to bother the trainers, and the roof in Natividad’s office has a big hole in it.
“If I make it a distraction, then it is,” Natividad said. “It didn’t affect the athletes because Mike and I did our best to try and not make this an issue.”
As for Natividad and Miller, they have continued to go on with their daily routine without any problems.
“Rory (Natividad) and Mike (Miller) are the best at what they do, and are having great patience with these unfortunate events,” Shannon said.
“You don’t let it frustrate you; you just have to adapt and work with what you got,” Natividad said. “There’s nothing I can do about the drainage. I’m not the plumber, I’m the athletic trainer and my job is to treat the athletes.”
