As the summer came to a close, many female athletes excitedly anticipated the new locker rooms that were announced at the end of last year. The new lockers are now collegiate lockers, making the room look as though it is a college locker room, rather than the old book lockers that were there before.  Another change to the locker room is the splitting up of the middle and upper school female athletes.

“It was important to separate the middle school and high school athletes. For the middle schoolers, we wanted them to have their own space and a place where they could feel comfortable changing and getting ready for games. For high school we wanted them to have their own place as well but we wanted them to have a place they could call their own and someplace they could be proud of which was what prompted the new type of lockers,” says Coach Timmons.

Coach Timmons also discussed the way the varsity lockers would be assigned, “In the varsity locker room there are 38 lockers. There are 11 for Varsity Cheer, 11 for Varsity Volleyball, and the rest for cross-country. If the JV players are in high school they can use those lockers as well, whereas if a JV player is in middle school they will use the middle school lockers.”

With the growth of the athletic department, designing new locker rooms seemed to be a lovely idea, however, some say the space is insufficient to meet the needs of ODA’s women athletes.

“I really like the new look of the lockers and the room it provides for bags and equipment, however, it seems unfair that there are not enough lockers for every girl participating in a varsity sport,” said Jade Bond (15’).

Some female athletes point out that women’s lacrosse, tennis, and softball all have substantial equipment that may need additional room in the coming season.

After the cheerleaders, volleyball players, runners, and confused middle schoolers are using up locker space, there lies the fight for locker space. Even though the varsity athletes are excited and appreciative about the new collegiate looking lockers, the issue of numbers still remains.

The main problem the athletes are complaining about is space, when really the issue isn’t space but the numbers of lockers. In past years, the lockers were much smaller which meant there was a locker for every single athlete. Now there are only 34 varsity lockers to accommodate all 9-12 grade varsity athletes.

Carling Landeche (’17) offers, “I feel if every girl in each sport paired up with another girl in their sport and shared a locker, that would solve the problem of not enough lockers.”

Women’s athetics will find ways to adjust to the new system in the locker rooms.

Overall the new facilities are beautiful and greatly appreciated.