Construction of new field to start soon
It was not just the inadeqaute playing surface of Kelly/Shorts Stadium that bothered junior field hockey player Erica Takach.
“I’m really happy because we have always had to schedule our practices around the football team, and whenever they were waiting to practice, they were always standing around just watching us,” she said. “Having our own field, it’s actually going to be a field hockey field. We won’t lose our balls in the drainage gutters, it’s just the little things that really help.”
The Board of Trustees approved $781,000 to construct a new venue on the west side of the Lyle Bennett Track in a special board meeting held to discuss the field hockey team’s future.
The team was displaced after officials opted to resurface Kelly/Shorts Stadium with a filled artifical surface supplied by FieldTurf. The team would not have been able to play on the surface next season.
Officials have yet to decide on either FieldTurf or Pro Grass for the team’s new surface.
Installation should take about 10 weeks, which will be cutting it close to CMU’s first home game agains Miami Sept. 24.
“We think we can make this deadline if a decision is made in a fairly short time,” said Athletic Director Herb Deromedi.
Field hockey coach Cristy Freese was excited when she heard the news.
“I’m pleased that the Board and the President took our situation seriously, and have done something about it,” Freese said.
While the project is completed, the team will be forced to start the season practicing at the Indoor Athletic Complex.
“Starting the preseason inside and not being able to get on the field isn’t that big of deal because we have our own field,” Takach said. “We fought real hard to get the field and we’re not going to complain about anything.”
Freese hopes the project will be complete for the beginning of the season.
“To be honest, I had felt all along that we were going to start the season inside the IAC,” Freese said. “Our first game isn’t until September, but we’d love to practice there.”
The new stadium will also allow Freese the opportunity to offer a field hockey camp in the offseason, something she had wanted to start this summer. Field hockey is the only sport on campus that does not have a summer camp program.
“We wanted to start a camp this summer, but the only reason we didn’t, was the field situation,” Freese said.
