Lapel (3,051) Built 2008
November 24, 2023: Anderson vs. Lapel (Boys)
Any gym that is built post-2000 is not going to be dripping with character. It's almost impossible. People don't design new high school gyms in a way that tries to blend tradition with modern sensibilities the way that baseball stadium designers in the 90s and 2000s did. There are no Camden Yards here. Administrators strive for big multipurpose spaces that are functional not only for basketball and volleyball practices, but P.E. classes and other events as well. I'm not even knocking them for it, I understand the motivations from people in their position. It doesn't exactly lend itself to classic Hoosier Hysteria though. Lapel is a pretty standard example of this. They relegated an absolute classic of a gym with beautiful, wraparound permanent bleachers to junior high use in favor of the antiseptic monolith they play in today. For such a bland gym, when it's pretty full the environment isn't terrible. That's true for almost any gym in the state though. There aren't too many special things going on here.
November 24, 2023: Anderson vs. Lapel (Boys)
Any gym that is built post-2000 is not going to be dripping with character. It's almost impossible. People don't design new high school gyms in a way that tries to blend tradition with modern sensibilities the way that baseball stadium designers in the 90s and 2000s did. There are no Camden Yards here. Administrators strive for big multipurpose spaces that are functional not only for basketball and volleyball practices, but P.E. classes and other events as well. I'm not even knocking them for it, I understand the motivations from people in their position. It doesn't exactly lend itself to classic Hoosier Hysteria though. Lapel is a pretty standard example of this. They relegated an absolute classic of a gym with beautiful, wraparound permanent bleachers to junior high use in favor of the antiseptic monolith they play in today. For such a bland gym, when it's pretty full the environment isn't terrible. That's true for almost any gym in the state though. There aren't too many special things going on here.
The new Lapel gym is a pretty standard modern design. Two single sections of ugly, beige plastic seats that go up about 20-25 rows on each side. There's also a few rows on each baseline, one for the pep band and one for the student section. I do like when the home student section is in a baseline section like that. One distinguishing feature in the gym is the wraparound athletic accomplishment banners that hang from the ceiling along almost the entire perimenter of the gym. I have mixed feelings about them. On one hand, it's really unique and looks pretty cool. On the other hand, they're hanging a big individual banner for every single accomplishment in every sport for every year it happened. Can you imagine if they did that at Anderson or Muncie? They would have banners all the way around the gym 5 rows deep. It's a little heavy-handed. I'm curious to see what they'll do when the banners make it all the way around the entire perimeter. The other distinguishing feature is that there is about 15-20 feet between the first row of bleachers and the out of bounds line along each sideline. I've never seen anything like it. On the side where the players sit with the scorer's table, it looks kind of weird. On the opposite side where it's just empy space between them, it looks absolutely ridiculous. It looks like whoever designed the gym just measured wrong and they never bothered to fix it. A fan sitting in the front row who wants to berate an official at the top of their lungs might as well save their breathe, they'll never be heard. There are a couple of cool displays honoring their past state championship teams and the old "Dog House" gym. That's about it.
One of the weirdest things about this gym is that both times I've been here, I've had to actively seek out someone to show my ticket that I bought online. You enter the building, walk across a giant commons area filled with people filing in and out of the restroom/concession area before you can even see the tiny table they have set up for tickets by one door to the gym. Being the law-abiding citizen that I am, I found the table and showed them my prepurchased ticket. Anyone who wanted to though could have walked right by in the sea of people and no one would have had any idea who had already paid and who hadn't. In fact I saw some people doing exactly that who walked in right in front of me. Now maybe they paid online too, or maybe they realized they could watch some free basketball, but the problem is no one would have had any way of knowing one way or the other. I'm the furthest thing from a business person, but this doesn't seem like a great strategy for selling tickets. Overall, if you want to come watch a big game here you won't be disappointed, but it definitely doesn't enhance the experience in any way either.
