Kilby Center New Home For Eagles

By: Brian Biederman

Annapolis Area Christian School has never really had a place for athletic teams to call home. Whether it was practicing at the middle school, or rushing the girls out of the gym so that the boys could get in before dark.

The Eagles never had a nest big enough for the whole family. That all changed 14 months ago when the school broke ground for the new Herndon Kilby Athletic Recreational Center.

The brand new, state of the art facility opened August 22, and the pool is expected to be completed by fall of 2008. While this new facility finally gives the students and athletes a place to call their own, it also should bring new athletic standouts through the doors.

"Kids who had no interest in our school are now calling us, asking how they can be a part of our program," said athletic director Joe Palumbo.

The new building has three main gyms, a wrestling room, a trainers' room, a team meeting room, auxiliary gyms for practice and an indoor turf field. These features allow the building to accommodate football practice, baseball practice, field hockey, soccer, basketball, volleyball and lacrosse.

"We didn't want to build around our competition," said Mike Singleton, who gives tours of the new center. "We wanted to take it to the next level, and we feel with this building we did that by giving our campus a small college feel."

With such a unique building, Annapolis Area Christian hopes to attract recruits that would have never otherwise looked their way. The school hopes new athletes can help them improve upon championships in girls soccer, volleyball and girls basketball, as well as their playoff appearances in lacrosse and soccer.

The teams will also benefit from the Kilby Center's indoor turf field. When it is completed, the indoor the 120 x 93 square foot turf field will be the only one of its kind in the state.

"No other school has anything like this," said Palumbo.

The school will be able to use the field for lacrosse, soccer, baseball practice, field hockey and football practice. And like the rest of the building, the field will be available for rental by the general public upon its completion.

Palumbo said the Kilby Center will not just act as an athletic facility, but also a student union.

Students will be able to purchase school supplies, eat hot lunches, and even have class in the Kilby Center.

Annapolis Area Christian hopes this marvel of a structure will help shape the lives of young students both on the field, and off it.