BROSELEY -- The final bell dismisses students at Twin Rivers High School, and many walk across the gymnasium floor on their way to the exits. Nothing new, except the hardwood they're walking on, the humming of air compressors and the hammering sounds of a crew working to replace the floor.
During the first week of school, water was found in the locker rooms and vacuumed up, so there weren't any thoughts of an issue arising.
On Aug. 19, five days later, it was discovered that the gym floor was buckling from water damage, and replacements were estimated to cost over $50,000.
"Butler County Water did some work over one of the first weekends of school, and it was (across the highway). Something happened, and somehow that water flowed back through us and into our building," Twin Rivers RX Superintendent Jeremy Siebert said. "I don't really have a clue what happened. I just know it happened when they were doing some work.
"We're not going to be paying for it. I know that. It'll be either Gallagher Bassett Insurance or Butler County Water. It's definitely covered by insurance."
Butler County Water declined to comment.
For the Twin Rivers volleyball team and first-year coach Sarah Grisham, this problem meant playing all 26 of the team's regular season matches away from home, an unexpected obstacle for a new coach who already faces the task of getting familiar with her players learning how the team best operates.
"It's been a struggle trying to figure out which gym we're going to be practicing in because (Qulin middle school) isn't regulation size and they had to put the poles in down at Fisk," Grisham said. "The girls have adapted pretty well to going back and forth."
Added junior Alissa Austin, "We're kind of just rolling with the punches. It's been a big change for all of us. We went from having a new coach to now our floor is being ripped out, and now we have to play at Fisk and Qulin, which most of us haven't played at in three years, so it's kind of having to get back and get used to it a little," Austin said.
The time of the buckling was actually as ideal as it could have been from a scheduling standpoint. The Lady Royals weren't scheduled to host a match until Sept. 6 against Hayti, which it ended up switching to a road match.
While that switch was made and the old floor was getting ripped up and readied for replacement, focus shifted to preparing the Fisk gymnasium.
After painting the floor with the proper lines and drilling holes to set up a regulation net, the Fisk gym was ready to hold practices.
Bus transportation to and from practice was provided for the players.
Once the Fisk gymnasium was ready, Twin Rivers was able to host several matches there, including its only win thus far in a tough 1-22-2 season on Sept. 25 against Richland.
"It was amazing to get the win, but then to see the crowd get so excited, the girls could feed off that energy," Grisham said. "You could just tell that when the crowd would get louder, the girls would get louder, and it was the dynamic that we needed to get our first win."
The team was also able to host its senior night and Pink Out game on Oct. 11 against Kennett.
"I know it's hard on people to make adjustments, but our booster club and the (parent teacher organizations) at Qulin and Fisk have stepped up and took on concession stands and everybody's made the adjustments," Twin Rivers athletic director Kelly Westerfield said. "They realize it's nobody's fault; it's just what we have to deal with.
"It did dawn on me that maybe playing all those road games was a struggle on them, never getting a home court advantage, never getting a home crowd, added on top of other adversity they're going through. I'm sure it's been tough on them, but people aren't complaining; we're just dealing with it."
For some of the players, there was initial doubt as to whether they would have anything that resembles a home match, and Fisk was the closest they came to getting that experience.
"I wasn't happy about (the flooding). I was like, 'Oh no. No home games.' Because we play better whenever we have games at home, so whenever we found out we could play games at Fisk, we were all pumped and finally won," said Jaylynn Williams, a Twin Rivers player. "We were supposed to have so many home games this year because last year, all we did was travel. This year, we have to travel even more."
With the replacements going on and school in session, P.E. classes have to do their own form of adapting, but those adaptations have been relatively easy to manage.
"While they were ripping it out, we could be in there. We could be on the concrete floor that was remaining," Westerfield said. "We can come and go in our locker rooms as we need to, but we have a weight room. We have outside; the weather's been pretty nice. And then we have a baseball and softball building that we're able to go in and play some games if we need to.
"So, we are displaced a little bit, but there are some things we can do."
Installation began on the new floor Sept. 20, but currently, the project is at a standstill. The school is waiting on a company to come in and remove the bleachers so the final section of the new floor can be laid down, but that company is occupied with another project. It's uncertain whether or not the gym will be ready in time for basketball season.