Staff Writer

As Scarborough High School spring sports teams prepare for the upcoming season, one team will be squeezed out of practicing indoors due to needed repairs in the Plummer Gymnasium.

Athletic Director Gary Groves said the gym has been closed since December. He said after a pipe froze and burst, water to spilled under the wood floor surface, which created curling.

Superintendent David Doyle said the total cost of the floor repair is about $105,000, which is covered by the school’s insurance. Groves said the Plummer Gym floor should be ready for use in late April.

Groves said the gym is named after former Scarborough High School teacher and coach Richard Plummer.

According to a Nov. 28, 2008 Leader article, Plummer taught and coached for Scarborough for 39 years – from 1957 to 1996 – and led the soccer team to four consecutive state championships from 1973 to 1976.

Plummer died on Nov. 18, 2008 at age 74, after a yearlong battle with cancer. The gym was dedicated to Plummer on Dec. 6, 2005, Groves said.

The gym is normally used by the softball team to practice indoors, and Groves said the team can still practice before snow melts off the softball field – at another school.

“We’ve tried to be proactive and move some things around,” Groves said. “Maine Hits is leasing some batting cages, we’re putting [the softball team] in the Wentworth [Intermediate School] cafeteria.”

Maine Hits is an indoor softball training facility located in Scarborough.

Groves said he also moved a men’s basketball league from Plummer Gym to Alumni Gym, the second gym in the high school. The baseball team will also use Alumni Gym to practice.

Softball coach Tom Griffin said between practices in the Wentworth cafeteria and Maine hits, the team will also take a trip to Florida during spring vacation for training.

Griffin said he enjoys practicing indoors, because it forces players to focus on fundamental play and repetition. He said the outdoors can be “distracting” during spring because of mud and cold temperatures.

Coaches of other spring sports teams said they will not be affected with the shut down of the gym. Boys’ track coach Ron Kelly said his team only needs a few minutes indoors before spending the rest of practice outside.

“We’re using the [Alumni] gym for a half hour and then we go outdoors,” Kelly said. “It doesn’t really affect us.”

Kelly said the team uses the gym to stretch and conduct warm-up exercises before heading outdoors for practice.

Girls’ lacrosse coach Marcia Wood said the varsity team will not have a problem, as the team conducts their practices on the football field, which uses field turf, a synthetic grass material. 

Wood said the Plummer Gym situation could have an effect on sub-varsity team practices.