Any athlete or sports fan realizes what a difference playing at home can make. Whether it’s the screams and yells that intimidate the opposing team or the silence and moving fingers during basketball foul shots, every team wants the chance to play in front of their home fans. Unfortunately, for many Whitman teams, this will not be a possibility this year.

On Feb. 1, administration came into school to find the large gym and small gym flooded with water.  In the hollow wall between the gyms, a heating pipe had burst because of the cold and had poured gallons of hot water onto the floors of both gyms.

“I opened the doors and it felt like a sauna,” athletic director Andy Wetzel said. “The steam was unbelievable.”

The administration went into emergency mode, first calling Bethesda maintenance who brought large multiple fans, and then the county who brought in insurance adjustors and contractors who deemed the floors un-savable.

Principal Alan Goodwin said the costs to fully replace both floors will amount to around $215,000 which will be paid for by MCPS insurance. He added that the new floors will be made differently to prevent the same situation from occurring again.

“The newer floors have a space built right below them, so if there is a leak there is space to dry out,” Goodwin said.

With at least two months of waiting time until the gyms can be fixed, both the winter and spring athletic schedules had to be re-arranged as well as activities for P.E. classes, Wetzel said.

Many P.E. classes have been held in the wrestling room, cafeteria, auditorium and computer labs since the incident.

“Everything we do, whether it’s in the computer lab or the wrestling room, is fitness related,” P.E. teacher Brian Boccher said.

Goodwin said that the P.E. department has been anxious to get outside and has offered the help of some P.E. students to help clear the basketball courts and track of snow.

“In the meantime, they’ve been creative,” Goodwin said, laughing.

Finding practice space at gyms across the county has also been extremely difficult, Wetzel said.

“If a school doesn’t have a game, they have practice,” he said. “There is just such a lack of available gym space.”

Boys and girls basketball have been practicing at different facilities depending on the day, ranging from Westland Middle School to senior Kenny Wine’s indoor gym.

Unfortunately, Pyle’s gym flooded a few days following the Whitman flood, so practice space there is not available either.

Game schedules also had to be altered for all indoor sports, both winter and spring. Instead of every team playing on the same day, now many boys, girls, JV and varsity games are played on separate nights.

Clara Kelly, member of the girls varsity basketball team, said that the gym problem is not going to alter the dynamic of the season, but said that she’s disappointed with not being able to play in front of a home audience.

“We go all the way out to Margruder, and no fans come,” she said. “It just sucks because we’re actually good this year, but we don’t have the support of our home fans.”

Regarding spring sports, certain measures will be taken to help accommodations,  especially with the practicing fields still covered with a foot of snow.

This will include possibly renting batting cages and indoor turf facilities.

Wetzel does not expect the gyms to be ready until the end of the spring season.

“This has been a terrible inconvenience for teams,” Wetzel said. “But we’re doing the best we can.”