CCHS Community Celebrates New Weight Room

Members of the Culver City Unified School District community came together to celebrate the opening of a new 2,400 square-foot weight room at the Culver City High School campus with a ribbon cutting Tuesday afternoon.

The $2.1 million project includes eight benches with gym racks, dumbbells, weighted sleds, medicine balls, and other exercise equipment. It is also equipped with heating and air conditioning systems and several television screens.

CCUSD and CCHS representatives spoke before the ribbon cutting, thanking the various people and entities contributing to the weight room's realization. One name noted as an essential influence is former CCHS football coach Greg Goodyear, to whom the weight room will serve as an informal tribute.

Goodyear, who died of prostate cancer in late 2021, also served as the quarterback for the Centaurs in the late 60s and early 70s and was deeply ingrained with the program until his death. The Culver City High School gym is named after his father, Del, who was a basketball coach for the Centaurs.

Superintendent Brian Lucas believes completing the weight room was a fitting way to honor the Goodyear family's legacy.

"This facility will serve as a lasting tribute to our joint vision for the health and fitness of our students and athletes," Lucas said.

Lucas noted that the weight room was also a demonstration of the community's deep appreciation for its schools. Lucas acknowledged some community members individually and said he has noticed the city's involvement since starting at CCUSD this January.

"Something that I have been impressed with at every single corner I turn here in Culver City is the amount of community engagement that we have at our schools," Lucas said. "It goes back generations."

CCUSD Board of Education Vice President Triston Ezidore also praised Goodyear's commitment to the Centaurs and their football team.

"He dedicated his life to making sure that this high school and this district was better than he found it," Ezidore said at the ribbon cutting.

After the ribbon cutting, students and staff could briefly tour the new weight room. Athletes were elated at the quality of the new building and its potential to improve their training conditions.

"It looks very modern," junior Langston Wilson told Culver Crescent. Wilson is a running back for the Centaurs football team, and he said he is most excited to train with the weighted sled.

Junior Centaur cornerback Bradon Williams also briefly explored the new weight room and told Culver Crescent it was a significant upgrade from what they were working with now.

"It was brick walls and old weights," Williams said of their lifting experience before this new room. "Everything was kind of mismatched."

"It was a real old-school weight room," Wilson added. "Some of the stuff was a little rusty."

The two football players, who were visibly excited about the prospects of the new weight room, pointed out how organized and modern it felt.

"It looks like we are going to get a lot of work done here," Wilson said.