Brandywine athletic department receives $20,000 donation for weight room upgrades – Leader Publications

NILES CHARTER TOWNSHIP — A local high school’s weight room is getting a facelift thanks to a generous donation.

The Brandywine Education Foundation presented the Brandywine High School Athletic Department with a $20,000 donation Wednesday afternoon. The money will be used to purchase new weights, bars and other equipment for the high school gymnasium.

The donation comes after a historic school year for Brandywine athletics, which saw two wrestlers win individual MHSAA state titles, the boys basketball team earn a Division 3 state title, the girls basketball team take second place in the D3 state and the girls bowling team advance to a Division 4 state tournament.

“I’m excited to get the alumni back and get involved with the school itself and also with the student-athletes here,” said athletics director Dave Sidenbender. “This was something that could benefit all student-athletes, not just football athletes. We looked for something that would help everyone. The more you improve it, the more kids will use it and it will help us get stronger and continue the success we have this year.”

The donation was a partnership between the BEF and Brandywine Varsity Club Alumni, with each entity raising funds for the donation to give back to an athletic program that will reap the benefits of the improved weight room for years to come.

“We thought it would be a good idea to actually help them now so they can get these upgrades together before the season starts,” said BEF President Rob Runyan.

“I think it will benefit the athletes and the school district itself,” added BVCA David Thompson. “It will definitely help with soccer, volleyball, softball, basketball, etc.”

Brandywine head football coach Justin Kinzie and wrestling/assistant football coach Rex Pomranka were present for the occasion and are grateful for the investment in the athletic department.

“The goal of any strength and conditioning program is to prevent injuries and to reduce recovery time if injuries do occur. For a small school like ours, where every kid in this building is a multi-sport athlete, one injury and a football season can impact two or three other sports,” Kinzie said. “That ability to go out there and get some really advanced equipment and really good tools in the weight room. It allows us to really provide the best environment for our student-athletes, where we can have them on the field here at Brandywine 12 months a year and their bodies can handle it. It’s going to be great for the student-athletes.”

Pomranka, a Brandywine alumnus, recalled when the weight room was simply “a steel cage on the balcony” and is happy to see students have a space to improve themselves for free.

“It’s just nice that someone wants to invest in it and a lot of our kids are starting to lift weights. They don’t have to join the YMCA or wherever, now they can come here and we can lift weights as a team and get together as a team.”

Thompson said Wednesday’s donation is just the beginning of what the alumni group hopes to accomplish in the future and said he would like to get more young alumni involved.

“We’re going to get the ball rolling for the second round,” Thompson said. “We’ll talk to (Sidenbender) to find out what that’s going to be and what we need next. We’re also trying to expand our base a bit. We’ve had some hardcore people who are really into it, but we also want to get more athletes who have been to Brandywine involved. One of the things we’re really trying to do is attract people who graduated in the 1990s and 2000s. We will try to appoint ‘ambassadors’ for each decade to get the message out and grow our base a little bit.”