As the varsity boys soccer team took the field on Aug. 27 for the first time of the season, many things were the same as seasons past. The cheerleaders were cheering, the players were playing and the fans were, well fanning. One difference, however, was the turf field.
William Lutz Stadium was renovated over a four month span this past summer and cost $1.75 million said Kim Ptak, director of operations and purchasing for District 225. The Glenbrook North booster club paid $250,000, $400,000 was paid by selling advertising panels on the scoreboard as well as by corporate donors and the remaining $1.1 million was paid by the district, said Ptak.
Before GBN acquired its turf field, Athletic Director John Catalano realized the hesitance in the past to utilize the stadium’s field, afraid that it could get damaged.
“We were using the field maybe 10 times in the fall and 20 times in the spring,” said Catalano. “We had all these days where it would just sit there.”
This hesitance especially increased after an incident five years ago in which the field was played on during a heavy rainfall. The damage caused on the field left it in “less than adequate” playing conditions, in which GBN athletics were forced to play on for the remainder of the fall.
“[This season] we’ve already used [the field] for lower level soccer, lower level football, physical education classes, [and] the band has gotten to practice on it,” Catalano said.
Since the installation of the new turf, athletes like Mac Turner, a member of the football team, and Ethan Glass, a member of the boys soccer team, have noticed the improved quality in their home field’s grounds.
“The turf makes the game really easy to play,” said Glass. “It’s nice to know there won’t be any divots and that the ball’s going to roll smoothly when it comes to you.”
Turner compared the field to Illinois Wesleyan University’s football field, where the football team practiced over the summer for a week in August.
“I think our turf is very college-like in the way that it responds to your feet,” Turner said.
What Turner didn’t know is that the turf that currently carpets the ground of the stadium is the same type of turf in Tucci Stadium, Wesleyan’s home field.
During the beginning processes of designing the field, Catalano, along with a group of people designated for the assignment, such as GBS Athletic Director Steve Rockrohr, traveled to different high schools to determine which type of turf would be best for District 225’s fields. The crew visited Conant, Schaumburg, Niles West and Deerfield high schools, each a home to a different breed of turf.
The school ended up going with FieldTurf.
Separate from the popular AstroTurf and Super Turf, FieldTurf is a generally softer material that still gives a field a “grass-like” look.
“When you get hit onto [the turf] it actually feels good, as good as it’s going to be, that is,” Turner said.
Besides completely redoing the field and outer track, the stadium has a newly installed drainage system. Water soaks beneath the turf and is collected through a piping system which runs underneath the stadium to a detention center located behind the back soccer and football fields.
“Friday night when it rained, the field was dry within 15-20 minutes,” said Catalano, referring to the debut of Spartan football on Aug. 30. “That’s just one of the perks of having a turf field.”