By ALEXANDER SIMONE

Staff writer

Goessel’s home tournament is a staple for its volleyball team, but this year the Bluebirds will have the added challenge of playing it away from home.

Goessel’s tournament, on Saturday, will be played at Sedgwick because high humidity caused damage to the Bluebirds’ gym floor.

Losing the opportunity for a home tournament is sad, but it can be overcome, coach Crysta Guhr said.

“It’s an obstacle and there’s nothing anybody can do about it,” she said. “That’s how we’re choosing to look at it. The adults’ perspective on it helps the kids keep it in perspective.”

Guhr’s sister coaches the Sedgwick team, but the school was chosen because it was the right facility, Guhr said.

“We were trying to get someone in the tournament who did not host already because it takes a lot of workers to run something,” she said. “They don’t host a tournament for volleyball, and we want somebody who has the facilities to use two gyms.”

Goessel had one other match that was moved, as the Sept. 3 quad-match was moved to Herington. A match that was to be hosted by Herington later in the season will be played at Goessel.

The Bluebirds’ high school and middle school matches with two or three teams will be able to use the high school gym.

Having only one gym gives varsity players an opportunity to cheer on middle school players during their matches, Guhr said.

“This is one of the only ways we get to watch our junior high girls,” she said. “If they played in the junior high gym then we’d be practicing. In some ways, it’s another blessing that we get to cheer on our own teams.”

The gym floor started cupping because of the wet weather and high humidity over the summer, making it unusable. Cupping occurs when excess moisture causes the wood to swell and raises the edges higher than the center.

The school was aware of the problem by mid-August, but humidity levels remained too high to start work until last week, superintendent John Fast said.

“Humidity levels in the wood have been so high it wasn’t dry enough to dry the wood adequately without creating moisture issues,” he said.

While difficult, the matter is more labor- and time-intensive than financial-based, Fast said.

“It’s nothing like tornado or flood damage in terms of insurance costs,” he said. “

Now that moisture levels have dropped, large dehumidifiers have been placed in the gym to dry it out.

The goal is to make the middle school gym usable again by mid-October, Fast said.