Artificial turf field more than just a football field

Permanent lining for football, lacrosse, rugby needed when new TASSS field opens

It is good to see the excavations started for the new allweather multi-purpose athletic field at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School, even though some administrators continue to refer to it as a football field.

Just as the two fields being built at Fleming College are called soccer fields; they are also athletic fields, for all sports.

Maybe a picky point to administrators but the designations are important to users.

I recently spoke with a high school and community coach. He told me there is a growing concern, in light of this continual reference to the TASSS complex as a football field, that when it comes time to line the field and allocate use, some of the sports groups will be left out.

The TASSS field should be permanently lined for football, lacrosse, and rugby. Between the two Fleming fields, there should be permanent lines for soccer, boys and girls lacrosse, field hockey and rugby.

School gyms have a multitude of lines permanently painted on the floor. Where they may look confusing to desk-bound administrators, the athletes have no problems knowing the boundaries of their activity. The same should be for the outdoor field.

Unlike grass fields, a specific sport canít take a line-marker and draw the boundaries for their particular sport on an allweather field. As welcoming as the Trent University all-weather field was to high school and community sports, it was frustrating for coaches of sports other that soccer and rugby for which the field is lined, to first receive permission to put on the temporary lines and then physically do it in the limited time their rental agreement gave them.

Now that the city is directly involved in the three new fields, they must insure all sports have equal access and the required marking to use these fields.

Most citizens didnít realize the Fleming campus was so land-deprived that two fields for all sports could not be built. Regardless, city teams must be guaranteed fair access to those restricted fields and also there are permanently markings for all sports, not just soccer.

This is the first time, certainly since the Memorial Centre opened in 1956, the city of Peterborough has stepped up and addressed our deplorable inadequacies of athletic and recreational facilities with a quality facility at TASSS and two, albeit under-sized, fields at Fleming.

Because of past decisions it is not surprising sports officials, including school coaches, still have a lack of confidence, even trust, that the controlling organizations; city parks and recreation, school board administrators and Fleming College officials will do the right thing.

Council must insure officials from all sports organizations expecting to use these three fields, built with tax payers' money, have input into the final detailing and have fair and equitable access to them at reasonable hours.

Now is the time Sport Kawartha and school coaches are brought together with city officials and the two school groups to draw up policy on the marking and use of these fields.

While council is at it, with a facility at TASSS citizens can be proud of, the naming of the field should now be explored. No pricey out-of-town consultants needed. Up to now there were not many athletic facilities any family would want their name on but from all appearances these facilities should be the exception.

To that end, a volunteer committee of sports people, maybe from the Sports Hall of Fame, should be empowered to compile a list of worthy sports individuals. If council doesn't sell the naming rights to the fields, they have an appropriate list from which to select a name.