Cookeville High Softball expecting an August completion date for its new indoor hitting facility and locker room facility.
Head coach Jordan Webb said the Putnam County School District recognized a need for female athletes to have access to the same quality of facilities already available to male sports. Webb said the project will provide the team with dedicated space for changing and indoor practice that has been missing for the last 15 years he has coached at the school.
“Over the past few years, a lot of the other sports in the district, baseball in particular, have indoor hitting facilities and locker rooms,” Webb said. “And so the district saw a need for girls’ sports in our county to have the same thing, to have locker rooms, facilities that the girls can change in, facilities that the girls can get some indoor practice work in.”
Webb said the softball team currently travels off campus to a private facility on Shag Rag Road and pays for indoor practice time during the spring. Webb said the new building will house the hitting cages and locker room under one roof, whereas the baseball program utilizes two separate buildings for those functions.
“Girls’ sports in general nationwide, worldwide, you know, there’s as much participation and girls put in the same amount of time, the same amount of effort,” Webb said. “Girls and women’s sports in particular have become more and more competitive over the last 10, 15, 20 years. And so, yeah, I mean, equity is a very important thing.”
Webb said the locker room portion of the project is an add-on that will require additional fundraising to complete. Webb said the goal is to create a space that can accommodate 25 players along with a coach’s office and equipment storage.
“In order for us to be competitive as well, we need to have facilities and we need to have equipment and be able to work and progress and have these student athletes become the best players they possibly can be,” Webb said. “Not only just being there on campus, we no longer have to travel off campus, we no longer have to pay to go off campus, we no longer have to worry about getting players to and from the hitting facility, you know, even on rainy days and things like that.”
Webb said the facility will improve the overall appearance of the Cookeville High School campus as visitors drive past the football and baseball fields. Webb said the convenience of an on-site facility will allow for more frequent skill development and eliminate the logistical burden on parents to transport players to off-site practices.
“I’m excited for the group that I have and honestly, I wish that the players years ago that have come through the program would have had the same thing,” Webb said. “It’s just an exciting time. It’s exciting what it’s going to look like in the next year or two.”
Webb said construction is progressing with the roof completed and metal siding and electrical work currently underway.
