Attending homecoming rallies and football games is every Cal High student’s rite of passage, and the home bleachers play an important role in making this happen.
For seniors, the bleachers are where proud families can celebrate their kids’ major milestone of graduating high school and moving on to adulthood.
But the time the old bleachers have served students have come to an end.
The San Ramon Valley Unified School District is spending $3 million to replace the outdated home bleachers and press box.
The old bleachers are being replaced because they did not have enough seating to fit all of Cal’s students, making attending and viewing the games a very unpleasant experience.
¨The old bleachers originally were able to seat only around 1,200 students, so they were an embarrassment to a high school our size, within our community, and compared to other communities,” Principal Demetrius Ball said during a press conference with The Californian.
Ball said the new home bleachers should be able to seat about 1,700 students and will be much taller and wider compared to the old bleachers.
The demolition of the old bleachers began after the football team played its last home game on Nov. 14. The old bleachers and press box were removed, and now the dirt where the bleachers sat is exposed.
The old bleachers have been around since before AP Euro teacher Ryan Anderson graduated from Cal in 2006.
¨The old bleachers were the same aluminum bleachers we had when I attended Cal High, just in better shape, like they weren’t bent or anything,¨ Anderson said.
Anderson said the only change that occurred to the old bleachers was the handicap wheelchair ramp that was added since his graduation.
With the old bleachers, students have experienced getting pushed over, cramping, and squeezing in with mobs of other students just to get a view of the football games.
“I felt the bleachers were cramped during football games and other school events,” sophomore Vidya Vyas said.
Vyas thinks that more space would have been sufficient for the well-being of students during the games.
“I think the main problem with our home bleachers is that they don’t have a very high capacity,” sophomore Cindy Li said.
Li also stated that the bleachers weren’t really tall enough, making it harder for her to view the games from where she stood.
The upgrade of the new bleachers aims to resolve most of these issues.
But, the bleachers aren’t the only change happening on the football field. Cal High will be replacing the press box as well.
¨The press box we have is by far one of the worst ones in the school district. It wasn’t even centered on the field, it is about 30 feet off-center. Judging by where they have left the electrical boxes in during this construction, they are still off-center from the 50-yard line,¨ Anderson said.
Athletics director Chad Ross thinks that with the installment of a new press box in the football stadium, it´ll lead to a better working environment for the coaches.
“The installment of the new press box should help a lot, as it´ll be safer and more modern. The old press box was situated at a rather unsafe place, so we are really glad that we are getting a new one,” Ross said.
¨In other news, schools like SRVHS[San Ramon Valley High School] have turf practice fields as well as nice main fields, which allows for their women’s flag football teams, freshman football teams and other winter sports to practice at the same time¨, Anderson said.
The construction of the new bleachers has been a topic of discussion for the athletics department for a long time. According to Ball, the process of getting projects through the athletics department starts with the administration and the athletics director going through the list of projects that need to be prioritized or improved based on the school’s budget.
“After that part is done, we take our projects to the district facilities. Then they’ll come to the conclusion that we have an X amount of dollars to spend in this pot of money for facilities updates,” Ball continued.
The process of constructing the bleachers started in November after the football team’s home playoff game on the 14th, as opposed to previous school years due to the time window the district allows. In addition to that, the season also plays an important factor in when the bleachers should be constructed.
“We were debating whether we wanted to start the project in the fall or winter. However, we needed some type of bleacher system for the fall football season,” Ball said.
That left the school with winter, as it’s the best option to build the bleachers since it had the least amount of impact on everyone being able to attend.
Senior Luca Campbell has mixed feelings about the construction of the bleachers, as it is being constructed during their graduation ceremonies.
¨I just feel like the construction of the bleachers will take away from the whole part of the high school graduation experience,¨ Campbell said.
However, Campbell said that he is excited that the new bleachers will enhance the experience of the football games for future students.
Upon the ability to increase seating capacity, and enhance viewing angles, the construction of the new bleachers hope to improve the overall experience for many students, athletes, and staff.
“We desperately needed an upgrade to our football field, and I’m happy that we are finally in the process of getting that upgrade,” Ball stated.
