Students who play basketball in the Tom W. Davis Special Events Gym at the RPAC might have noticed there has been one less court to play on in recent months.
The northern most court in the RPAC’s bottom floor gymnasium suffered water damage during an intramural basketball game on Feb. 28. During the game, a wayward basketball struck a sprinkler located off the court, causing water to cover most of court and some of the neighboring court.
Dave DeAngelo, senior associate director of Rec Sports facilities, said water can create issues with the court’s surface.
“When water gets on a floor it causes the wood to crack and creates issues underneath,” DeAngelo said in an April 1 interview.
He said the other three courts in the gymnasium “seem to be fine” and will not need any repair.
DeAngelo said the staff continues to assess the condition of the court to determine what can be done to save it.
He said the time frame for the repair of the court is unknown.
The Cincinnati Floor Company will be conducting the repairs, the same company that repaired courts in the RPAC’s Upper Gym in 2011, according to a Lantern article from May 2011.
The uncertainty of the court’s condition puts the cost of repair in question. The RPAC staff is working with its OSU insurance partners to determine the cost, but DeAngelo said the RPAC will likely foot the bill.
“We probably will use the $25,000 insurance deductible in this sort of situation, but there is no confirmation on that yet,” DeAngelo said.
The RPAC planned to resurface the floor in the Tom W. Davis Special Events Gym in May after commencement, DeAngelo said. The combined cost of the repair and resurfacing project will cost about $70,000.
Kevin Jarrell, a third-year in environmental science, frequents the gymnasium and said the Court 4 repair has caused issues for those who play basketball on the adjacent Court 3.
“The biggest problem is when a ball rolls into the dust (on Court 4). It is very slippery and gets on the shoes of players who have to go retrieve the ball,” Jarrell said.
Jarrell said the RPAC could do more to close off Court 4 and protect players.
DeAngelo said the RPAC has no plans for any other major repairs over the summer, but the roughly $320,000 project to build two new outdoor basketball courts and two sand volleyball courts between the Horseshoe and the RPAC is scheduled to be completed by May 17.