BHS gym, fields are a work in progress

BELLEVILLE, NJ — The gym at Belleville High School is currently being rebuilt, following extensive flood damage in August from Tropical Storm Ida.

“Water got into the first floor,” said BHS athletic director Marcellino Marra during an interview at his office on Friday, Jan. 14. “The gym was ruined. We’re in the process of fixing it. We support each other. It didn’t become such an obstacle, but an opportunity. I told my coaches things become obstacles when we make them obstacles. It was a perfect opportunity for our student-athletes to understand that sometimes there are challenges.”
The opportunity to refurbish the gym also complemented the other recent renovations, to school district sport fields.

“Things take longer with COVID,” Marra said. “For volleyball, we went to the middle school.”

But the middle school gym, because of its size, wasn’t usable for high school basketball games. The Belleville boys and girls basketball teams are playing most of their scheduled games away.

Their records are 3-3 for the boys team and 1-1 for the girls.
“We have some great neighbors,” Marra continued. “Abundant Life Academy let us use their gym several times. So it was both teams playing at a neutral site.”

In May 2021, the soccer and softball fields were renovated, and, in September 2021, the baseball and football fields were turfed. A new eight-lane, 400-meter track is currently being installed around the football field just outside the school. Marra said BHS has not had its own outdoor track-and-field facilities for 40 years. He expects the installation to be completed by the fall.

“I have to look at the positive,” he continued. “All the things we’re getting impact the kids. I enjoy Belleville. Its Board of Education works with the town officials, and it helps the kids on a larger level. The gym isn’t just for the high school. We want it as a center for our community.”

Dealing with the pandemic, Marra said, has taught him to take things day by day.
“Everything we base as an obstacle, we’ll overcome it together,” he said. “The kids are going out there and having fun. They need that. It’s a tough time for a lot of people.”
The BHS wrestlers are among the teams using the middle school for their home matches.
“Our maintenance crews took the mats over in December,” Marra said. “The entire wrestling home schedule is at the middle school. But the Belleville Buccaneers Wrestling Classic was held at Nutley High School.”

In addition to being the school’s athletic director, Marra is also the assistant principal. He has been at BHS for five years. Prior to this, he was a history teacher and soccer coach at Nutley High School for 17 years.

Marra said he anticipates the gym will be completed this spring.
“The kids are excited,” he said. “This motivates us.”

Stepping away from his desk, across the gym and out the door into the pleasant weather that January day, Marra looked beyond the temporary security fencing toward the football bleachers, where there were earth movers parked to the side. He said he was indeed a very lucky man to be at BHS, with all the renovations that are happening.

“This place will be the center of town,” he said. “The Belleville Municipal Stadium.”