With three tiers of 95 lockers, indoor restrooms, an athletic training room, and a multipurpose room for community events, the new Danehy Gateway Pavilion is the brainchild of countless complaints from the athletic department, coaches, and student athletes. Currently, Danehy being CRLS’s resident sport location poses many concerns, including lack of adequate space, bathrooms, and sanitation. Paul Gregory, the CRLS girls soccer goalkeeper coach, told the Register Forum, “We store our equipment in a freight container. It’s disgusting. We have found a family of skunks living in it.” This project attempts to solve that.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am for this,” said Tom Arria, CRLS’s Director of Athletics. “The idea that we’ve come so far and through so many different iterations and conversations over time is just unbelievable.” Arria originally proposed the structure in 2015, during his second fall season at the high school. At the time, the budget was stretched tight after redoing some of the Danehy fields, and once COVID-19 came along, construction was severely limited. Now that pandemic restrictions are loosening, the Danehy Gateway Pavilion is finally coming into fruition, with a targeted construction start date of January 2024. 

The pavilion particularly seeks to create increased gender equality. In an article posted on Cambridge’s Department of Human Service Programs, Adam Corbeil, Director of Cambridge Recreation, said that, “The Danehy Gateway Pavilion is the product of many important community conversations about the need for Cambridge’s female athletes, coaches, and staff to have better athletic amenities.” 

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While both genders are expected to use the facility relatively equally, and there are no gender-distinct amenities, the messaging around the pavilion’s construction centers around the ways it will help female athletes. The multi-purpose facility will serve soccer, cross country, lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, rugby, and track and field for both boys and girls teams. 

Mr. Josh Marden, the freshmen girls soccer coach, told the Register Forum, “I think that [this messaging] is entrenched in gender stereotypes and other realities. So again, I’m really hopeful that the facility itself will be as inclusive as it possibly can be.” Many, like Marden, believe that the focus around female athletics is non-inclusive of nonbinary and male students.

However, others celebrate the fact that female athletes, who were the main force behind the project, managed to get their voices heard. For years, the only such multi-purpose facility was in Russell Field, where the majority of teams practicing are boys teams.

“A lot of the time, I think female athletes aren’t prioritized,” Isabelle Larabee ’25, the varsity girls soccer captain said to the Register Forum. “[The facility] shows how we’re trying to modernize our facilities for sports and for younger athletes.” 

While this is a major addition to Danehy park, communication may pose a challenge. Varsity girls soccer player Catalina Lozada ’25 told the Register Forum that, “As we get closer to when [the pavilion] is starting to be built, I think having conversations with athletes and letting them know is important.” This project marks a huge win for Cambridge and will affect many student athletes. In Lozada’s opinion, “It’s really amazing that female athletes got a project as big as this done.”