The changing face of H.S. sports

Like all-weather tracks which preceded them, synthetic football fields are gaining in popularity

By John D'Onforio

The branches felled during October’s unexpected winter storm could easily be used to fuel the persuasive fire of local athletics directors and coaches who are urging their districts to look toward the future and the obvious benefits of all-weather fields.

“I think this is the perfect time to be talking about this. We’re all frustrated with the number of cancellations we’ve had this fall,” said Grand Island athletics director Jon Roth, one of several area ADs who have looked into the costs associated with installing synthetic football fields.

“It’s been tough. Erie County schools are just trying to survive,” Roth said. “If you don’t buy into it this fall, you never will, because this has been a disaster. I can’t tell you how many cancellations we’ve had. I’d love to get such a project going here. I’ve thought about it and researched it, but we need a lot of people to buy into it.”

Grand Island, which spends an average of 1 percent of its school budget each year on sports, installed an all-weather synthetic track surface eight years ago through a capital project. Niagara Falls, Lockport, North Tonawanda and almost every other local high school also have them, but every Niagara County high school football field remains a grass surface.

Local schools that have already made the move to all-weather football fields include Medina in Orleans County, Jamestown in Chautauqua County, and Amherst and Buffalo’s All-High Stadium in Erie County. In addition, Canisius High School, which plays its home games on artificial turf at Canisius College, has a synthetic turf practice field on school grounds. All but Jamestown’s Strider Field and Canisius’ practice facility have lights.

• Lew-Port takes the plunge

Lewiston-Porter in Youngstown will soon become the first Niagara County high school to install an all-weather football field. The district approved a $1 million all-weather football and soccer complex last year. Construction, which will include lights, will begin at the conclusion of this spring’s outdoor track season with an expected completion date of Sept. 1, according to Brian Gunby, Lew-Port varsity football coach and a district health/physical education teacher.

“The end of our season would have most likely been lost, but we were able to schedule two games at Medina,” Gunby said. “The first game we played, it was pouring rain and we had to make no adjustments in our play calling because the field was in great shape. In our second game there, we had sleet just before kickoff and the field stayed in great shape. Our kids loved it and are greatly looking forward to playing on it next season.”

The movement has long been on throughout the area to build all-weather fields for soccer, football and lacrosse — facilities which exist in abundance throughout the Rochester area (Section V). Now, ADs have the devastating recent storm as added ammunition to explain the benefits to those who have questioned the investment in the past.

“Our girls soccer team has been very successful over the last six years and we’ve gone to the Far West Regionals and played in Rochester. A majority of Rochester high schools have already gone to that type of surface for football and soccer,” Roth said. “Our fields were in terrible shape. Last Sunday, we played Hamburg and we had to cancel it at both of our places. We played at All-High Stadium.”

Lockport, Clarence, Grand Island and Lew-Port were among local high schools traveling to Medina’s state-of-the-art facility for games. Amherst also hosted a number of make-up football games.

• Rent or buy?

Gunby and Lockport athletics director Patrick Burke said the cost of utilizing the Medina field was $28 per hour, plus an additional flat rate of $100 for lights. Amherst charged outside schools approximately $50 for practices, $75 per day game and $125 per night game, according to their athletics director, Nancy Riccio.

“Medina was absolutely incredible as far as accommodating us when we used their field,” Gunby said. “Playing both our games at Medina actually cost less for our district than hosting a night game at home, because it was a neutral sight and we split the cost with our opponents.”

Former Medina AD Pam Maryjanowski (2001-04) credits Medina district administrators with foresight in building the Mustangs’ quarter-million-dollar all-weather football field in 2002.

“I think it was a wise investment and a good investment,” she said. “It’s tremendous. It’s always usable and the only thing you have to worry about is snow, but that would have impacted the old field the same way.”

Riccio, the Amherst AD for 17 years, is a former Lew-Port physical education teacher (1972-80). She said the Tigers’ $750,000 synthetic rubber and sand football field with lights was built last year between June and September.

“Everyone loves it. The surface is great. Even and on rainy days, it’s been dry out there,” Riccio said. “This is ideal for Western New York. Considering the weather we just had, this is the time to pump it up. It makes a lot of sense.”

• Value is the key, ADs say

Burke said the move to articifial turf, “is always something that’s been in the back of our mind. It all comes down to costs and being able to put that into a renovation-construction package to maximize state aid.

“Like buying a new car, the cost is going to depend on what you want. For example, Medina’s facility doesn’t have a track around it. There are inherent costs to that drainage and the asphalt that goes under the track and there are a variety of different materials that can go on top. Amherst’s field turf is the same as the turf the Buffalo Bills use at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Some of the older turf surfaces — like the Demske Complex at Canisius — are harder and more like indoor-outdoor carpeting.”

Burke said one of the most frequently asked questions as of late is, “When is Lockport getting one?”

“You don’t know how many people have asked me that,” Burke said.

If Lockport was to invest in a synthetic field at Max D. Lederer Field, site of LHS home football games, Burke said the most important aspect of the project would be to maximize value.

“If we put that right in middle of the track, don’t forget that we have boys and girls lacrosse, who couldn’t use it because we have track practice every day with 200 kids and it just wouldn’t work,” Burke said. “You have to put lights in the facility, which would extend its daily life to 9:30-10 o’clock at night. It goes back to starting out with a building project, a board of education that sees value in it and having enough land and space to make it affordable.”

Barker field hockey coach Jude Otto, who serves as the Section VI chairman in that sport, said coaches had been urging her this year to have Amherst host not only the sectional finals, but additional playoff games as well. As a result, this year, both the Section VI field hockey finals and semifinals are slated for Amherst High.

“We’re finding that with the weather conditions at this time of the year, you can’t count on fields being in good condition, which is why we made the move to the all-weather surface for the finals to begin with,” Otto said.

“The surface at Canisius is really hard and it cost thousands of dollars to use for one day, but the newer ones, like the one at Medina and especially the one at Amherst, are fabulous. The technology on these all-weather surfaces has changed so much that now they’ve got it down to a science. The fields at Medina and Amherst are wonderful to play on and the kids absolutely love it.

“Now having both the finals and semis at Amherst, we don’t have to do it all in one day. Now we can spread it out so we can draw a better crowd. Another important fact is that ever since we started playing on the synthetic surfaces, we’ve not been in the red.”

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