FHC has a long standing history of its mass success in sports thanks to its athletes and coaches. However, it’s the behind the scenes set up of our sporting events and venues that is the more impressive part.

FHC has many athletic facilities that are state-of-the-art and used on a daily basis. Our custodians are superheroes when it comes to the setting up of equipment, scoring tables, chairs, and much more. Matt Inman, our head custodian at FHC, is one of the biggest enablers of this tedious process. Mr. Inman is an extremely hard working man prior to, during, and after the school day. This is not a job for the physically and mentally weak individual. To provide some perspective on what his responsibilities would be, let’s take a look at what goes into setting up the gym for basketball and volleyball. Mr. Inman has to set up heavy and expensive scoring tables, move the bleachers out and back in from their resting position, and he has to make sure a variety of equipment is set out depending on what is needed. Not to forget that Mr. Inman is typically very short-handed with staff and usually does the work on his own.

Mr. Inman says the worst part of setting up sporting events is the lack of flexibility that isn’t provided at times. “I never know what surprise will be waiting for me in the gym or other venues after school, so sometimes they delay my set-up even more.” He also states that his least favorite part of setting up the gym for events is “how slow the basketball hoops move up and down.” Let’s not forget that there are many times when Mr. Inman has to set up multiple venues around campus; this is especially complicated when problems arise at multiple venues at the same time. Let’s also not forget that Mr. Inman is putting in a long day prior to sporting events and his hard school day responsibilities carry over for many hours afterward. “Inside set up is different,” says Inman. “It requires me to wait until after the school day is over to set up the gym and this extends my day.” 

Students at FHC should understand Mr. Inman’s grueling schedule and appreciate what he goes through. Freshman Naveen Ram explains how he loves having all of the necessary sporting equipment out for his freshman basketball games right after school. “The clean and spacious environment helps me focus and get ready for my games. The music also helps me lock in and think about one thing: that it’s gameday.” 

All student-athletes at FHC should really appreciate how Mr. Inman and his custodial staff takes care of our athletes here at Forest Hills Central. Next time you see Mr. Inman in the halls, make sure you thank him for all of his work and let him know that we couldn’t do it without him.