When Damian Fritz was hired at Marian Catholic High School to take over the reins of the Fillies’ basketball program, one of his first thoughts was to “change the culture of the program; to do something different.”

His predecessor, Paul Brutto, had guided the program to unparalleled success over decades before retiring. Yet due to a number of factors, including the loss of area CYO programs, numbers dwindled, prompting Fritz to assert, “It was important we re-energize the program.”

His first thought was the noted Marian “Blue Room,” - a special locker room for those in the program to enjoy. After all, Fritz knows all about the “Blue Room” legacy. His father-in-law, Bob Fulton, who led the 1971 Marian boys to the PCIAA state championship, is the pioneer who brought the locker room initiative with him from New Jersey to Marian.

“In order to re-energize the program and get the parents and players excited, I thought this project was important.” Fritz said, borrowing Fulton’s theory. “The room gives our girls something they can call their own. At the same time, our objective is to create an environment that fosters true growth and development. We want to get people excited about Fillies basketball.”

A 21-6 season, Schuylkill League Division 3 and District 11 championships, a berth in the league playoffs and a trip to the second round of the PIAA class A state playoffs has continued to stir the emotions of Fillie fans.

The amenities surrounding the program have added to that.

“When our girls are in the blue room, they feel like they are part of something unlike no other in the area,” said Fritz. “We want them to feel like they are in a college locker room; we want to do the best job we can as a program to give them the best experience. Anyone playing Fillies basketball is going to enjoy what the blue room offers. It gives them a place to bond, hang out, and develop a relationship with one another.”

Fritz said when he discussed the $15,000-plus renovation project with members of the Fillies Basketball Booster Club, “the parents bought into it immediately.”

As did Head of School Michael Brennan, who said the project is a continuation of a series of upgrades on the building opened in 1964.

“I think it’s important we have facilities that are constantly improving, and to give our athletes a state of the art locker room only helps match the improvements we have made inside the building,” Brennan said. “In the last handful of years, we have had new bleachers in the gymnasium, new lighting for performing arts, our state of the art business center and science labs, and our new Student Support Center for our Guidance and Aquinas Learning Support Programs.

“Our goal is to keep improving our facilities and give more students an opportunity to come see what is all about to ‘Be Marian.’”

In the near future, he said, the Blue Room on the boys’ side of the locker facilities will undergo a similar renovation project.

The project was spearheaded by Sue Sernak-Martinelli, president of the Fillies Basketball Boosters, mother of current Fillie, Frankie Martinelli, and a Hall of Fame player at Weatherly High School.

“I always heard about the Blue Room, and the special place it is for girls in the program,” she said. “But, in the summer, when we took a look at it, I was surprised to see it needed work.”

While the years took its toll on the special locker room, Martinelli and members of the booster club took their plan to Brennan.

He said, “When I took over in July, I was approached by Coach Fritz and individuals who were interested in sprucing up our team locker (Blue) room for our student athletes. We then put it out to our booster clubs about helping out, and really our girls basketball boosters ran with the project. I cannot thank the efforts of the families enough, as they raised the funds, and did all the dirty work in constructing the room.”

Martinelli said volunteers removed the old lockers from the Blue Room, washed walls, and tore up the floors, among other chores, to prepare it for renovations.

In the meantime, they raised the funds necessary to pay for improvements they planned, including a contribution from the Blue and Gold Club.

Among the others who played roles are John Petrilyak and Glen Bobish, while current Fillie team members “painted the place.”

After state-of-the-art lockers were ordered from an Ohio company, Martinelli’s brother, Jeffrey Sernak, of Sernak’s Farms, Weatherly, arranged to have one of his delivery men bring the lockers back to Hometown, saving significant shipping costs, and then arranged for Jack Zukovich of Zukovich’s Farm Market, Hometown, to bring his forklift to Marian to unload them and get them into the school.

The wooden lockers, complete with full-scale combination locks on each of them, “are the same ones that major colleges have,” Martinelli said.

An engraved “M” appears on each locker, while seats are cushioned, while a vinyl decal proclaiming “Home of the Fillies” decorates the room. A four-by-six-foot whiteboard with a basketball floor layout on it is mounted on the wall where Fritz can address the Fillies.

A new berber carpet inscribed with the Marian logo was installed, and banners carrying the program’s motto - “Run as One … Our Way” - provides excitement for those who enter the room.

Plans are for the room to have other amenities, including bean bags, a TV, Wi-Fi, LED lighting and bins of snacks and water.

“The girls love it,” Martinelli said. “We want to rebuild the program to its rich winning tradition, and with it comes giving the girls in the program a first-class facility.”

As for Fritz, he closed, “I could not be happier with the results; it gives our girls special accommodations that rival locker rooms in college programs.

“At the end of the day, we want our girls to walk away feeling that they had the best experience, as a person, player, student, daughter, sister and teammate.”