Offutt Field House receives much needed upgrades

  • Published
  • By Delanie Stafford
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. --  The largest gym in the Air Force will soon see some major improvements. Offutt's 240,000 square foot gym, the Offutt Field House, is currently receiving $600,000 in renovations that will include new surfaces for the basketball and volleyball courts.

The four vinyl-tile sport courts that have been in use for more than 10 years are all being replaced with professional maple wood floors that will offer better performance, while also reducing the potential risk for ankle, knee and joint injuries.

"It's called a floating floor and it just has a lot less impact than the old floor would have, which was just laid directly over concrete," said Mark Gaeirn, 55th Force Support Squadron's director of fitness and sports. "It's going to be a lot better for people to work out on, run on and utilize"

Gym patrons playing a game of basketball on the newly finished court over a Tuesday lunch hour say the difference in playing surfaces is night and day.

"It improves the lighting because the floor is brighter," said Rich Kuper, who has been playing basketball in the field house for more than 15 years. "When you dribble, it sounds like basketball...I just thank the base for putting it in because this is truly great."

The indoor soccer field is also being replaced, and will provide a better playing surface than the previous field.

"Now [the soccer field] is going to be state of the art, it's going to better on knees and joints, and just safety wise, it's a lot better," Gaeirn said.

Other upgrades being made to the field house include re-finished floors in the racquetball courts, a new batting cage, new dividers and netting.

So far, the batting cage, two racquetball courts and one basketball court have been completed and are open for use. The rest of the upgrades are scheduled to be completed between now and the middle of February 2013.

Gaeirn said the upgrades were necessary to support the base's fitness priority and should serve the Offutt community well into the future.