Roughly 50 years after its construction, Branson’s gym is receiving the first part of its renovation aimed at improving its functionality as an all-school community venue.
The first phase of renovations is scheduled to close the Large Gym until mid-August, hopefully before basketball season starts Aug. 10. The renovation includes divider curtains, new hoops, lights, and refinishing the floor. The second phase, which will improve the Small Gym and weight room, is still in the works, currently scheduled for summer 2027. A design team, including Director of Athletics Frances Dillon, Head of School Chris Mazzola and Director of Operations Todd Bickel, has been working on these plans since 2024.
“It’s just a renovation of what’s going on inside the outer walls, bringing it up to speed with what we need as a community and brightening things up,” Dillon said. “Truly, it’s just making things look a whole lot brighter and improving the existing space.”
The renovation is geared toward student needs outside of athletics, as well.
“This is the only space that holds our entire community, so we went into it understanding that it was going to have dual purpose, especially with seating for the bleachers,” Dillon said. “We were thinking about the space as it affects our whole student body. That was a conscious effort.”
As Branson has an agreement with MCALs not to host big games at Branson, more students might use the gym for non-athletic reasons.
“It almost will be used, other than practice days, more for the whole student body than actual games. With assemblies, guest speakers and open houses, it’s a space that’s used by the broader community more than any games because of our restriction on crowd size,” Associate Athletic Director Tyler Gottschalk said.
Despite the inconvenience to students, this time of year was the least impactful time for this project to happen.
“I don’t see any drawbacks,” Dillon said. “We tried to find the timing that is least impactful, so we started at the end of basketball because basketball uses the gym. We don’t have a spring sport that uses the gym.”
The renovations will also help athletes’ schedules.
“With the reconfiguration and having the drape that will drop down and separate the gym into basically two gyms, from a scheduling standpoint when it comes to practices, and essentially with that curtain down, we almost have three gyms,” Gottschalk said.
As a central part of campus, Dillion is looking forward to the applications of the renovation.
“I’m excited about a space where everyone is going to get to use it and benefit from it,” Dillon said.
