In an effort to get the community more involved in athletic activities, Guilford has opened two new facilities outside of the Ragan Brown Field House – a basketball court and a sand volleyball court. “We said, ‘well, what are some things that students will want to do?'” PE Center Facilities Manager Mike Merkel explained. “Years ago, we used to have outdoor basketball courts, so we put up new (basketball) courts, and then the volleyball court became a natural move.”

According to Merkel, lights for the basketball courts should be up by the end of this week.

The volleyball court officially opened to the entire Guilford community on Nov. 30. To use the court, students can trade out volleyballs for their Quaker cards, just like the basketballs.

Of course, the volleyball court will impact some members of the community more than others.

“Our team will definitely benefit,” said Head Volleyball Coach Emily Gann. “With basketball and everything else going on (during the winter), my girls struggle to get court time inside the gym. They’re ecstatic.”

Hopes are that the court will get use from the rest of the community as well. The biggest obstacle seems to be raising people’s awareness of the new facility.

“I didn’t really notice them,” said first-year John Crehan.

“I didn’t know they were being put up,” said junior Jeffrey Meyers.

The question now is, will they be used?

“I mean, I guess in the nice weather people will use it,” said senior Ariel Austin-Wilson.

“I probably would use it some,” said first-year Maddie Holland. “I’m not a big volleyball person but if a bunch of my friends got together, it could be fun.”

It’s difficult to say just how popular the sand volleyball court will be, but it seems that the school has invested both time and money in it.

“We wanted to wait until the 30th to let the sod settle,” explained Merkel. “It’s very expensive and we just wanted to make sure it was in good shape.”

Overall, according to Gann, the project for the volleyball court was fairly inexpensive.

Merkel also explained that President Kent Chabotar has been very supportive of the expansion of the PE Center.

“As a matter of fact, we had run out of money for the original budget of the Mary Ragsdale Fitness center,” said Merkel, “we went to him, and he came up with what we needed to do all these things.