The Nicholson Pavilion has less traffic going in and out of it this quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A majority of workers are on stay-at-home orders because they are not essential workers.  CWU Athletics’ strength and conditioning coach Erik Hoium said President James Gaudino has made it very clear to his employees during a staff meeting that they will keep their jobs and be given the opportunity to reduce their hours for safety reasons. 

“When something like this happens, it’s our biggest concern for our friends, coworkers, people we spend every day working with is, are we all still going to have a job? But the university has been amazing through this process,” Hoium said. 

Hoium said the two custodians in the Nicholson Pavilion have certain days they’re in the building and have done a good job of maintaining their regular cleaning schedules. 

 Hoium said one custodian is on his normal schedule of sanitizing and waxing the floor in the weight room. The custodian typically cleans the cage side of the weight room every Thursday and the glass side every Friday. 

Hoium said with regards to the weight room there isn’t a lot to take care of since there are no athletes going in and out of the weight room. Hoium said the weight room has no need to be cleaned as frequently as it was being cleaned before. 

Maintenance workers have been on the same routine, but the basketball court, weight room and field house have some new upgrades. 

Going into spring break, Associate Athletic Director Gary Hyatt said there were plans for maintenance to be done during that time. The COVID-19 stay-at-home order has given more time for these projects to be done properly in less of a rush. 

Hoium said a crew came in and repainted the field house and the cage weight room. They painted the walls black and off white. Before painting the walls, the weights had to be removed. After the painting was finished, Hoium and the facilities crew rearranged the weight room and made it look more organized. The cage side of the weight room has some new equipment added to use once schools open and when the athletes are back. 

Hyatt and Hoium both said the field house hasn’t been repainted since it was built in 1959, and it was desperately needed. Hyatt said the custodians were also able to do deep cleans on all the locker rooms and the weight room. Hyatt added that the building is as clean as it has been in years. 

“The projects that have been done are the Nicholson gymnasium floor being refinished. We were able to sand down and make it look brand new. We also painted a new three-point line that will go into effect for men’s basketball, moving it back to NBA range so we now have two,” Hyatt said. 

Hyatt said the football field has an artificial surface and does not need much maintenance with no spring football practice. The baseball field won’t have much work done on it since the season has been cancelled. The grounds crew does not have much to do besides watering, fertilizing, weeding and mowing.