Flathead's gym brings its own charm

There’s nothing quite like it.

Home teams and competitors alike agree that the Flathead gym is special.

For as daunting as many of the teams have been that have walked into the close confines at Flathead High School, the gym itself has a built in aura. There’s a mystique to it, if not just old-fashioned engineering.

It’s the indivdual championship banners hanging in every corner of the rafters. The grandstands that are built to within inches of the playing surface. Even the steep nature of the two-story arena makes it seem like fans are almost on top of the court, especially in jam-packed games like tonight’s crosstown basketball contest.

It’s games like tonight that really bring out the juice in these old gyms.Student sections shouting over each other certainly helps. So too, does the fans in the stands, increasingly rooting for one team or the other. Add in the final weekend of the regular season and the immediacy of a ‘must-win’ game and the heat rises both metaphorically and in reality.

At times it’s been so loud I can’t hear myself, the crowd and the horns in the band creating a noise that makes it hard to gather your thoughts to write an article.

Much of that aura is fashioned by the fans who fill the seats from around the Flathead Valley, for basketball games and volleyball and wrestling matches. A lot too, comes from a style of construction that doesn’t happen anymore, with steep stairs and thinner bleachers allowing for a cozier setting.

That feeling is leaving many areas of the state as old gyms come up for repairs. The old materials eventually give out, are due for replacement, or just get remodeled with the rest of a school update.

What turns up in its stead often feels somewhat like is on the other side of town. Glacier’s gym is shiny and new, and can be one of the loudest gyms in the state in big moments. It has better lighting, more accessible seating and locker rooms on the same floor.

What it doesn’t have is the charm that comes with a slight sense of claustrophobia.

And that’s fine.

There’s a lot of other good things that come out of having a new gym, and many of them are good.

Bigfork will be building a new gym as part of its school remodel and Flathead too, will eventually have to replace or renovate its aging facility.

Hopefully, with all of the shiny new amenities, the old barns can keep some of the charm that helped make them formidable. Surely, the teams on the court will certainly bring their best to make it uncomfortable.

Until then, it’s worth enjoying the best gym in the state in its current construction, filled with some of the wildest fans you can find.

There’s nothing quite like it.