Newcomerstown, Ohio - The Newcomerstown school district’s vision of an all-sport indoor athletic facility is one step closer to becoming a reality.

On Wednesday, the district’s board of education authorized administration to open bids for the construction of a 12,000-square-foot multi-purpose field house on district-owned property between Newcomerstown High School and Lee Stadium.

Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Brian Collins says the proposed field house will serve as a centralized indoor training facility for student-athletes and will feature a 10,000-square-foot gymnasium designed to accommodate multiple sports.

“It’s going to have a full-regulation basketball court, and it’ll have a two-lane track that’ll wrap around the outside of it. It’ll be able to have a center divider so you’ll be able to run basketball and volleyball on the other side of that as well,” he says.

Collins says that additional indoor athletic space is something that has been needed in the district. 

He says teams currently train on a daily basis in nearly every gym in the district as well as in the Middle School cafeteria and the sports facility of a neighboring church.

Collins says many of those locations will still be used following the construction of the new field house but notes that the facility will provide a lot of additional space and a place where multiple teams can practice at the same time.

Funding for the $2 million project will come from the Vernon and Edith Lee Trust Fund, designated specifically for athletic facilities in the Newcomerstown school district.

Collins says the district hopes to break ground on the facility next spring and have the project completed by late fall. 

STACEY CARMANY, TUSCO TV