by Malcolm Butler
Cedar Creek’s student athletes will have a new place to get bigger, faster, and stronger.
Construction is under way on a new sports performance facility that will be located adjacent to the existing fieldhouse on the east side of Cougar Field at Origin Bank Stadium. The much needed facility could be operational by the turn of the calendar and is just one more project falling within the $4.5 million master plan that the school released two years ago.
The almost 5,000-square foot facility is funded completely through private donations and corporate sponsorships. And according to Creek officials, it will impact every student athlete.
“Our goal is for every single athlete at our school to utilize this facility at least two or three times a week,” said head football and powerlifting coach Jacob Angevine. “We want to give all of our athletes an opportunity to get to that next level and perform at their optimum ability. In order for them to take that next step, we need to provide the facilities.
“This has been a long time coming. We have had the idea for a while, and now its coming to fruition.”
Cedar Creek’s current weight room located on the east end of the field is outdated, not large enough to accommodate all of the school’s athletes. Currently, football, baseball, boys basketball, powerlifting and track and field are the teams that utilize it.
A secondary weightroom is located on the campus that some of the female sports utilize, but isn’t as large as the primary space. Cedar Creek’s girls basketball team conducts a lot of its conditioning and strength training at Ten-10 Training.
“This is just a bigger space that will contain top-notch training equipment that all of our teams can use,” said Angevine.
Lady Cougars hoops coach Katie Hall said the addition of the facility is just another step forward for the school and its athletes.
“I love how our administrators are investing in something that I feel is very important for all of our athletes and students,” said Hall, whose team advanced to the Select School Division IV title game this past season. “Cedar Creek is continuing to take strides to get better. This facility is one of them.”
The new facility will include weights, a turf field for speed and agility training, and possibility a few offices.
“There will be two coaches responsible for training our male and female athletes,” said Angevine, referring to Joey Gautney and Ashley Aldredge Brooks, who was recently hired to handle strength and conditioning for the female athletes. “They may be housed in the facility or we may utilize that space for additional training space.
“It’s not going to just be racks and weight equipment. We plan to have turf so we can handle agility work or even get some work in on a rainy day where we can’t make it outside, things like inside run drills or run fits.”
Angevine was named head football coach at the end of last school year and has served as the head boys and girls powerlifting coach for a number of years. The veteran of the Cedar Creek coaching staff said he hopes to see the roster numbers for football grow to close to 60 over the next few years.
“The future of our football program could see 60 kids on our roster if they all stick with it,” said Angevine. “We need the space to be able to work out those types of numbers.”
The facility is another component to the school’s $4.5 million athletic master plan that began two summers ago when the football stadium received a new drainage system and a new surface. At that same time in 2023, football, baseball and softball facilities all received new lighting.
Last summer saw the Brickhouse (basketball gym) receive a complete facelift with a new floor, new bleachers, renovations to coaches offices, and some other aesthetic advancements.
“The projects that were part of the original master plan are continuing to become realities,” said Cedar Creek School board member Bart Dugdale. “The school is making the commitment to its students and its athletic programs.”
According to Dugdale, the current facility that houses the weightroom also houses the baseball lockerrooms as well as some coaches offices. Once the new sports performance facility is complete and operational, the current space will receive some renovations.
A new baseball lockerroom will be built adjacent to the home baseball dugout, thus presenting the opportunity to turn the building back into a football facility. Dugdale said the football lockerroom, which has been in another facility on the north side of the stadium, will move back into the fieldhouse while additional coaches offices and film/meeting rooms will be added. Some of the space will also be kept as a auxiliary weightroom.
