Indoor recreation facilities available for City of Derby residents include gymnasiums at Derby High School, Bradley Elementary School, and Irving Elementary School, as well as a swimming pool, health club and gymnasium at the Veterans Community Center adjacent to City Hall. Based upon meetings and discussions with the three school principals, the high school Athletic Director, and representatives of the Veterans Community Center, the following summary comments are applicable to the Townwide indoor facilities:

The gymnasium at the Derby High School is used by both the high school and intermediate school (grades 7 and 8) student population. This single gymnasium is not capable of adequately meeting the program demands of these user groups.

Irving School gymnasium, originally built as a gym for Derby High School, is so extensively used by the community that there is no after school elementary grade recreation programming during the months of November through March.

Bradley School gymnasium is an undersized facility which cannot be cost effectively expanded. This gym is suitable for elementary school use and for the youth programming that utilizes the gym during the fall and winter.

Expansion plans for Derby High School outlined in an October 16, 1998 Feasibility Study prepared by Fletcher Thompson, Inc. propose a new gymnasium to be constructed for the high school expansion. The existing gymnasium is proposed to be dedicated for middle school use (grades expanded to 6 through 9). Should this expansion of indoor facilities take place, then the conflicts in use that affect the high school and middle school indoor school sports program will be greatly lessened.

The Veterans Community Center has the ability to accept additional recreational programming.

 

The following chart, as provided by the Derby High School Sports Department, provides a summary of the current (1998-1999) requirements for the high school and middle school winter sports program.

As the chart shows, a number of boys and girls programs must take place at the Irving Elementary School gymnasium, including freshman boys basketball, intermediate boys basketball and intermediate girls basketball. Time frames in the high school gym allotted for practices are extremely limited, especially when games are scheduled for the gym. As an example, wrestling, while extremely popular, must schedule practice around the basketball program. This is accomplished by both using the high school auditorium and stage as well as practicing after 6:00 p.m. Cheerleading practices are impacted in similar fashion, as well as practice times scheduled for the various basketball teams. In addition, athletic storage, locker, shower and weightlifting facilities are in need of upgrading and renovation. These issues are scheduled to be improved with the proposed expansion of the existing facilities.

Deficiencies in available space clearly impact the ability of the City school sports program to provide adequate practice time for the student participants. An Appendix is attached that details a schedule of games and practices for the high school and intermediate school sports program. The schedule represents a complex juggling of events heavily dependent on complete coordination between different teams for space utilization, sacrifice in available practice time and requirements for extended hours of gymnasium usage to meet practice and game needs. Should no improvements be constructed, these deficiencies will be compounded as the larger populations of younger students move into the high school and intermediate school classes.

Irving School gymnasium is utilized from the hours of 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. by the following groups:

Boys Basketball (7^th, 8^th, 9^th grades) 3:00 – 4:45 p.m.

Girls Basketball (7^th, 8^th, 9^th grades) 5:00 – 6:45 p.m.

Biddy Basketball 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

In addition to the extracurricular schedule, Irving School, as a pre-kindergarten through 6^th grade, uses the gym for school day activities. The layout of the gym creates some circulation problems since school dismissal sends children through the gym to exit to the waiting buses.

The backlog of gym usage is also hindered to some extent by the use of lockers, storage areas and showers originally designed for the gym being converted to offices for the school. Irving School has space limitations beyond gymnasium uses that the school expansion program proposed for the high school and middle school will lessen. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution available for the lack of outdoor recreational space and playground area at the school.

The Bradley gymnasium is a very small facility which cannot be used for games other than instructional youth basketball. Towards that end, Biddy Basketball utilizes the facility five days per week November through March from the hours of 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. The YMCA day care program has use of the gym during weekdays up to 6:00 p.m. Like Irving School, locker room space is converted to other uses and is not available for its designed intent.

This facility, undersized as it may be, provides a needed space for the young children and is a valuable community asset. Expansion of the gym is not considered practical since the gym has a stage and auditorium function integral to the gym.

This community facility is comprised of three major elements: a swimming pool, health club, and gymnasium. Recent upgrades have been completed to provide for code updates as well as a series of capital improvements including pool renovations, lighting upgrades, new windows and utility improvements. The Center operates six days per week from the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

The swimming pool includes changing rooms, showers, and lockers for men and for women. The health club, available for use by membership, includes a three-station multi-gym, hand weights, two treadmills, one cross country trainer, four stationery exercise bicycles, a hot tub, sauna, and lounge area. Both the swimming pool and health club are located in the lower level of the building that houses City Hall. On the upper level of the Center is a gymnasium that is utilized three nights per week by girls and boys Biddy Basketball. On Saturdays, a parochial basketball league uses the gym. The Veterans Community Center is not open on Sundays. This facility is the one indoor recreational feature in the City of Derby that has the ability to accept additional programming. The center could easily staff afternoon sessions for the gym, pool, and health club should the City decide to program use for the times available. The use of the Center facilities is fee based and the Center would benefit from increased community usage. One capital improvement that would aid use of the Veterans Community Center would be the provision of dedicated off-street parking for users of the facility. There is currently no parking dedicated for the Community Center, which hinders use and can create difficulty in accessing the facility.