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August 4, 2008
Head Women's Soccer Coach Sarah Gumina also looks forward to the newly resurfaced field. "I am extremely excited for the team to be able to experience a turf field," she said. "The benefits of this field can be huge once the adjustment is made. We are working on plans for night games and that will give Gallaudet an opportunity to come out and support women's soccer."
Hotchkiss Field receives first facelift in 20 years
WASHINGTON, DC-The fall athletics season is still weeks away, but the Bison buzz has already begun. Just in time for the new season. Students have shown increased interest in team and intramural sports and the department has added full-time coaches for football, volleyball, and basketball as well as hired a full-time intramural coordinator. And Hotchkiss Field sports a new look—the kelly green expanse marked by crisp white yard lines and a bold new buff and blue Bison logo is a synthetic turf called FieldTurf. This project was the first major work on the playing field in 20 years, and according to Athletics Director Mike Weinstock, it is a boon to the athletics program and the Gallaudet community as a whole.
The new field, made with a material designed to look and feel
like grass but offering a softer, more even surface, is the result
of nine months of research and preparation on the part of the
Department of Athletics and the Facilities Department. The field
has multiple benefits, explained Weinstock, and the big winners are
current and future students.
“The old field had become very uneven and was costly to
maintain,” said Weinstock. “This FieldTurf field will
reduce injuries for our players, and serve as a great recruiting
and retention tool—all part of the new Gallaudet.” In
addition, games and practices need not be deterred by rain. Whereas
rains often turned the grass and soil of the old field into mud,
halting practices sometimes for days, the synthetic turf never gets
muddy. Buffered by layers of rubber and sand below, it can absorb
up to five inches of rain an hour.
“It’s very, very exciting for the
University,” said Assistant Athletics Director and Head
Football Coach Ed Hottle. “This is a giant step forward to
have an all-weather facility for all of the athletes in our 14
sports teams, the intramural program, and physical education
classes. Over time we’ll probably wonder how we lived without
it.”
Head Women's Soccer Coach Sarah Gumina also looks forward to the newly resurfaced field. "I am extremely excited for the team to be able to experience a turf field," she said. "The benefits of this field can be huge once the adjustment is made. We are working on plans for night games and that will give Gallaudet an opportunity to come out and support women's soccer."
Other improvements accompanied the new grassy turf. During the
six-week resurfacing process, the FieldTurf company replaced the
D-shaped long jump and pole vault areas behind the goal posts and
added water faucets and electrical outlets on the sidelines, while
Musco Lighting installed four energy-saving light posts. One of the
existing light poles was turned toward the tennis courts, which
previously had no illumination of their own.
Weinstock said the Bison can now conduct practices and games
any time, day or night. “The coaches don’t have to
schedule their practices around daylight,” he said.
“They have much more flexibility.”
These extended hours give the various teams more chances to
practice and will make it easier to work practices into their
academic schedules. On hot days, coaches can change practice times
to the cooler evening hours. The track will still have lighting for
runners and walkers in the evening. And for the first time in the
school’s history, Gallaudet can host night games on Hotchkiss
Field. The players will be able to see the field and their
teammates clearly, and spectators in the stands will find it easier
to converse in ASL.
The long jump and pole vault areas offer another set of
advantages, Weinstock added. They have been elongated and repaved,
and now meet National Collegiate Athletic Association standards.
This means that Gallaudet can host track meets.
Representatives from the Office of Administration and Finance
(A&F) say the field is good for the environment and a good
investment. Synthetic turf fields got a bad rap in the past, said
Executive Director of Business and Support Services Gary Aller, but
that has changed. “We learned that synthetic turf used to
include lead and other harmful materials,” he said,
“and it felt like scratchy carpet. This kind is completely
different—it is soft, springy, and safe for our athletes and
the ground water.”
Synthetic turf fields, now widely used by area universities
and high schools, as well as most National Football League and
professional soccer teams, do not require watering, fertilizing,
painting, or aerating. They also stay green without harmful
chemicals. This was a positive benefit for senior Jessica Frank, an
environmental intern with A&F. While most of the grass on
campus is maintained using all organic methods, she said, Hotchkiss
Field required synthetic fertilizers and insecticides. The
resurfacing of the field helped move Kendall Green toward a 100
percent organic landscape.
In addition to this benefit, Musco’s Light-Structure
Green system cuts energy usage and cost by about 50 percent, and
one of the layers below the turf is made with recycled
tires—about 20,000 of them—which would have otherwise
ended up in landfills.
Weinstock pointed out that the University will save overall on
water usage, fertilizer, grass seed, paint, mowing, and other
labor, making the field a wise long-term financial
investment.
The new Hotchkiss Field will start to see use when football
practice starts August 14, and the Gallaudet community can look
forward to putting it to use during October’s Homecoming
weekend. The first night game will be a November 7 football matchup
against Williamson Trade.
