Construction underway for outdoor project at Wesclin
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- Written by: Matt Wilson - Breese Journal Reporter
Construction for the new concession stand and restroom facilities at the Wesclin High School field is underway. Photos by Matt Wilson Construction is underway for a new turf field and outdoor project at Wesclin High School.
The project will include a turf field, resurfacing the track, new visitors bleachers, new concession stand and restrooms. A tree was cut down and a walkway to the visitors bleachers will be created.
"This is just going to be outstanding," Wesclin principal James Rahm said. "This is going to give us more flexibility. Everybody that is going to be using this is excited."
Rahm said the field should be completed by the time of the first home football game. Wesclin is on the road for the first two weeks of the football season and has its home opener in week three.
The turf for the new outdoor facility at Wesclin High School was unloaded off the truck on Wednesday, June 17. The field will be used by multiple sports and activities at Wesclin. The bonds for the project were $7.5 million for everything. The bonds will cover the outdoor project, a potential new field house, and projects at other schools in the Wesclin district.
Wesclin is getting turf from GeoSurfaces, which is the same brand of turf that Carlyle, Central and Centralia has. Wesclin will join Carlyle, Central and Mater Dei as the four Clinton County schools to have a turf field.
"Just in terms of maintenance, a turf field is so much easier," Rahm said. "I know the Clinton County band exhibition last year had to be canceled because our field was just too wet, but that won't happen anymore. As long as it is not raining, we can host that event now."
The field will be used for football and soccer games, band competitions, and other sports for practices. Physical education classes will use the turf field for classes.
There will be a home plate on the field so baseball and softball can practice when needed.
Central High School to start mental health support program for athletes
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- Written by: Matt Wilson - Breese Journal Reporter
Central Community High School Superintendent Dustin Foutch talked about a pilot program starting next year at Central during the school board meeting on Monday, June 15.
Central will be starting a mental health support program for student athletes. Foutch serves on the 708 Mental Health Board and a lot of the local mental health providers are there. They started talking about mental health supports for student athletes because of the challenges and pressures they are under.
"Here, it can be a pressure cooker for kids at times," Foutch said. "This is something that we can do a lot of good with. There are always kids where they are in the middle of the season and the season is not playing out as well as they were expecting and they are starting to struggle with their mental health."
Foutch said the coaches are not psychologists and sometimes don't know how to help with mental health situations. Beth Riccaridi has a certification in sports psychology and mental health performance with athletes and will provide mental performance and mental wellness services to the student-athletes at Central.
There will not be a stigma attached to Riccaridi being at Central. She will talk to athletes about performing at peak performance in difficult situations.
They will use their health, life, safety money to fund the program.
"This is a pilot program that we are going to start that I think will be super beneficial," Foutch said. "It is a wide range of things that Beth will be able to provide support with."
The plan is this summer Riccaridi will meet with the female athletes during their workouts and then meet with the male athletes. They have looped in their trainers and will be their first line of defense.
"I think this will be a very super positive thing," Foutch said. "It's very innovative. A lot of colleges have something like this, but at the high school level this is something innovative."
Foutch said people might be able to see the physical stuff going on with an athlete, but there is a lot of mental stuff that goes unseen.
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