August 17, 2020 at 10:02 a.m.
Dome dreaming
Dome dreaming
Construction of the Hodag Sports Complex started during the midst of the pandemic and continues in earnest, still on target for an early October completion date. The crown jewel of the nearly $8.5 million project, funded with both public and private money, is a 128,000-square foot air-supported dome that will open up a wide range of possibilities for not only Rhinelander High School sports teams but the community as a whole.
"It's definitely going to be an asset for our community," RHS activities director Brian Paulson said. "I really do think there's going to be some great opportunities while letting kids still be kids, but having the opportunity to further themselves and become better athletes in their sports."
Recently, Paulson helped to finalized one of the dome's major components - the markings of the artificial turf surface that will make up most of the dome's square footage.
The field is slated to have five sets of lines configured to five different sports: football, soccer, softball, track and futsal - the latter being a modified indoor version of soccer.
"I guess futsal, people are looking to play it all the time," Paulson said. "You can have adult leagues. My soccer coaches are pretty convincing that we'll fill a lot up for people who want to come play."
The turf field in the dome will go along with a 100-meter running track, pits for pole vault and long/triple jump, and a concrete area at the west end of the dome that will be able to accommodate tennis and/or pickleball, depending on the configuration.
"It's a complete blessing and something nobody has around us," RHS football and track head coach Aaron Kraemer told the River News back in May. "We need to make sure we utilize it to the best of our ability to honor those who put this in place for us."
Already the building is in demand from more than just Rhinelander student-athletes. Paulson said he's fielded calls from a number of high schools looking to play early-season softball and girls' soccer games inside the dome, during a time where the spring thaw in the Northwoods has made the prospects of playing outside iffy at best. From 2013 to 2019, the start of the outdoor spring season was significantly hampered on four occasions due to a late snowmelt.
"If (Easter) wasn't late, we'd have three to four weekends where we'd be so packed, it would be unbelievable," Paulson said of the early spring schedule. "I have too many teams for softball right now, so we've got to figure that out. I'm not necessarily looking for a tournament, but to get two games in maybe."
Additionally, Rhinelander High School is looking to enter the mix of schools holding wrestling tournaments over the Christmas holiday break. There are plenty of other, more established options, to choose from over the holidays - from the Northern Exposure tournament in Merrill, the Northern Badger in River Falls, the Bi-State Classic in La Crosse and the Lourdes Academy On the Water Classic in Oshkosh - but Rhinelander is using the novelty of competing inside the dome as a selling point to other schools.
Paulson said RHS has already had around a dozen schools commit to the tournament, with the option to add more teams closer to the event.
"We're lucky to be able to have some teams come up for this. It will be exciting," he said.
Naturally, with the number of sports that can practice and/or play games inside the dome, coaches are already considering the possibilities.
"Having the opportunity to have open gyms and opportunities to play in the dome, it's something very exciting," RHS girls' soccer coach Richard Kotula said. "I think that's on everyone's mind as well, to see there's a future, there's a bright future. With all the snow that's usually on the ground, it gives us a bit of an advantage to have the opportunity to continue to working on this sport and be ready for the next season, for the girls to have the opportunity to do something and have fun doing it as well."
"I'm really looking forward to that, and that's going to help us tremendously because when we have our open gyms, we actually have a field," RHS softball coach D.J. DeMeyer said. "We can play a game, do a scrimmage and have some fun all winter long. These girls, they're going to benefit from that and the coaches will benefit from that, too."
In addition to being able to configure the indoor turf field into two 190-foot softball diamonds, the complex will include a pair of outdoor softball diamonds where the team can practice and play. Given that those fields will not be seeded until late this summer, Paulson said the RHS softball team will likely still practice and play at Pioneer Park in 2021, to allow the grass on the new fields ample time to take hold.
When he announced his retirement back in May, RHS tennis coach Bob Heideman called the indoor courts a big opportunity to help his successor continue to build the program. Matt Nichols was named as Heideman's successor in June and is eager to put the courts to use.
"It will be awesome for the offseason," he said. "I've already been talking to Brian about potentially having those reserved a couple of days a week throughout the winter for open hits. Even for competition, a lot of the time we're getting canceled out because of rain or snow. That will unlock that potential to host bigger meets."
As currently designed, the concrete courts on the west end of the facility will be configured for four tennis courts or up to 12 pickleball courts, depending on which group is using the facility. There were also be anchorments for gymnastics apparatus, volleyball nets and basketball hoops. Basketball and volleyball would require the purchase of a sports court surface that could be laid on top of the concrete. Paulson indicated that the Hodag Schools Foundation, which has already raised more than $2 million in private monies for the project, is in the process of getting donations that would facilitate at least one sport court upon the completion of the dome.
Perhaps the sport that will see the biggest quality of life improvement from the new complex is track and field. Without a dedicated fieldhouse, the team has had to use a hodgepodge of spaces inside Rhinelander High School when forced inside during the weather, including the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium, the Aspirus Fitness Center and the hallways, which many track athletes have ran over the years.
"Guess what, you don't have to run in the hallway anymore," Kraemer said. "You don't have to throw in the gym anymore. You don't have to dodge equipment in the gym that's there from the winter season. It's just another opportunity for kids to utilize a facility that will make them better."
There were plenty of scheduling challenges prior to the dome's construction, especially in winter and early spring, as varsity, subvarsity and middle school teams took their turns in the athletic spaces the district had. Because of that, it was not uncommon to see teams practice until 10 p.m. on school nights while stuck indoors.
The Hodag Sports Complex should help to alleviate that issue, but creates its own set of challenges, given the sheer number of possibilities inside the dome. Paulson said new opportunities will have to be scheduled carefully alongside existing offerings - both inside and outside the school setting - to ensure kids don't have too much on their plate at once, or conflicting options between sports.
He used futsal as an example, stating that if a league were to start up in November and December, he would have to be mindful of not only middle school sports going on at that time, but additionally club programs, such as youth hockey at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
"It's putting everything together we have in our community, because we want kids to be three-sport athletes," he said. "It's one big puzzle, just like a gymnasium schedule, and putting it together where you can get the most kids participating, and not having conflicts."
That's a good problem to have, and one Kraemer anticipates, given the buzz surrounding the project.
"I think it just motivates more kids to want to be part of something that is going to be happening in that new space," he said.
One thing no one envisioned when the planning process for the complex began was the COVID-19 pandemic, which may actually put Rhinelander in a unique position depending on how an altered 2020-21 sports calendar shakes out. As of now, Rhinelander and the rest of the Great Northern Conference is committed to playing a traditional fall sports season while a number of schools, especially in larger metropolitan areas in the southern part of the state, are opting for a model that would move fall sports to the spring of 2021.
Assuming the virus situation is better by then, and assuming the number of teams opting to move fall sports to spring continues to rise, the dome could be a hot ticket - especially if there's another late thaw - as teams look to play football in late March or early April.
"It's like, 'Hey, we've got a place we can go,'" Paulson said. "Up here, think how we are for track season. Indoor track season, we can't get outside. We're lucky to get outside by the first week of April. Definitely people are talking about it."
What eventually will become the finished Hodag Sports Complex began in late 2018 with a donation from the Dr. Lee Swank family of $500,000 to the Hodag Schools Foundation to put toward building an indoor athletic facility. As district administration and the school board further studied their options, they settled on the large air-supported dome last June. Construction on the project began April 20.
In addition to the dome, the complex will include a outdoor practice football/soccer field, expanded parking, a new outdoor shot put and discus area at Mike Webster Stadium. The existing junior varsity baseball field had to be relocated due to the dome's construction and is being moved to the fields in front of Rhinelander High School that used to play host to RHS varsity soccer games.
Information from River News reporter Jamie Taylor was used in this report.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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