People who attend sporting events at Moody Field in North Fort Myers High School will notice something very different and very cool.
The school, with the help of numerous sponsors, was able to equip itself with a new state-of-the-art dashboard to give the school and the programs that use the field a 21st century feel.
The new scoreboard costs around $ 140,000 and can not only be programmed specifically for different sports, but can also be used to stream giant screen movies for fundraisers or other student activities.
Sporting director Joe Bowen said the old one was on the verge of passing away and wanted to replace him with something no other school in the area has.
“We had problems with this for the past two years and wanted something different and something that would involve more children. “ Bowen said. “We thought we were the digital school that we are, we thought we needed to use a digital dashboard. “
Schools outside of Lee County, such as Venice and Charlotte, have digital scorecards, as they also have a large booster presence that enables them these items.
North went to the community and was able to get businesses and individuals to donate, and the sports department also put money into the project which had been going on for about 18 months.
The scoreboard has been in use since the start of the football season. It was used for football and soccer matches, scheduled for these individual sports. The dashboard is dedicated to the students of the school, Bowen said.
It was also used, once a month, for movie nights similar to movies on the putting green. On December 15th, they will play a Christmas movie on the football field.
“The kids can come, put a blanket on the pitch and watch movies. We opened the concession stand and it’s like a drive-in theater ”, Bowen said.
That’s not all. Bowen said he would like to develop this, for example using instant replay and other videos, and use it for contests and shouting to make the school feel comfortable with what they have. .
The new dashboard is part of renovations to Moody Field and the sports complex. New lighting was installed, as well as a new track, and the pavilion was renovated.
New lighting for the baseball and softball fields is expected in 2022, and improved lighting for the gymnasium is expected next year, Bowen said.
As for a new scoreboard to replace the one that’s been around forever, Bowen said he’d like to put the old one in the auxiliary gym.
“It’s been there for the best of times so I want to put it in the auxiliary and get a new scoreboard for the big gymnasium so we can have a tournament if we want to.” Bowen said.
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