New home for the Tigers
What was once old is new again at Ridley College.
The school has spent the last two years refurbishing the Griffith Gym and the results are stunning.
“It feels like a brand new space. It doesn’t look the same. If you didn’t know it was the same space, you probably couldn’t tell,” Ridley Director of Athletics Courtney Smith said. “This is really exciting.”
The floor has been re-sanded and re-painted, the acoustics updated and a new scoreboard installed.
“We are excited to have the new home of the Tigers, not just for our basketball team, but for all our teams, the lower school and middle school programs,” Smith said. “We’re most excited to open our doors to the community to bring in youth groups, minor basketball, volleyball and badminton associations. We’re all about community.
“Priority now, as there is still some work to be done internally, is students, academic and co-curricular programs. The hope is that as we enter the spring we can invite more members of the community in through our spaces.”
The renovation of the gym is part of a massive expansion at Ridley that also includes a new fitness centre, expanded ergometer room, new squash centre, additional locker rooms as well as spin and yoga studios.
Ridley Director of Basketball and Prep Boys head coach Victor Raso is amazed at the finished product.
“I said recently if someone said build what you want I think I would build something quite similar to what we’re building right now,” Raso said. “It’s something like 20,000 square feet. We’ve got everything you could ever imagine in here. It’s really cool.”
Ridley invited retired basketball coach Dave Whitty to sink the first basket on court Thursday. The facility will be open to students Tuesday.
“It’s spectacular,” Whitty said after sinking a picture perfect layup. “When I stepped away, I haven’t been back in this gym since that day.”
Whitty spent over 30 years at Ridley as a teacher and coach.
“The beauty of this is the weight room and everything else,” he said. “Why would you not want to go to this school?”
The remake continues as the Field House will now go off line for updates with hopes of it being ready in September. It will feature another three courts lined for basketball, volleyball and badminton.
“We have been operating with just one gym the last two years which I’m so grateful to faculty, staff and students for being patient,” Smith said. “We had a lot of late night practices and early mornings just to get everything done.”
The new Griffith Gym will open its doors Sunday to the Canadian senior men’s basketball team as they prepare for the FIBA Men’s AmeriCup 2025 Qualifiers versus Nicaragua at Meridian Centre Friday, Feb. 23. Former Niagara River Lions Lloyd Pandi, Phil Scrubb and Trae-Bell Haynes are on the Canadian roster.
The NPA (National Prepatory Association) will also hold its championship weekend March 21-24 at the Griffith Gym.
Dear reader. If you liked this story or one of the 5,700 other stories found on our website, please consider hitting the Support Us button on the right-hand side of our home page and making a PayPal contribution to our website. Your support would be much appreciated. If you are a business owner, please consider advertising on our site. Our rates are reasonable and we provide plenty of exposure for your business. Contact bpotrecz@outlook.com for more information.
