Written by Anna Lange

        Plans for completing two facility projects for Salem Community Schools were approved, 7-0, at a school board meeting held on Jan. 18. Plans include replacing the football field with an artificial turf surface and replacing the deteriorating press box located in the football stands. 

        Considering the amount of money being used annually to maintain the football field’s natural grass, the school board decided that it would be frugal to replace the field with artificial turf to subside the maintenance costs. With the set price of  $1,471,413, Hellas Construction Company will begin installing the new turf surface around April to early May, with plans to have it completed by the beginning of August. 

        With the change that will be made, student athletes’ abilities to play will be affected, but will the effect be beneficial or detrimental?

        Junior Brady Briscoe said that the field will allow his football team to practice and play on a higher-quality and more reliable field.

       “I enjoy turf overall because it provides a clean and even ground for playing, and keeps cleats clean,” Briscoe said. “I believe the field will help with consistency since most schools in our district and conference already have turf fields, and now we will be used to it. It does also lead to a lot of turf burn which can be annoying for athletes, but that is the cost with all turf fields.”

        Junior football player Adam Mull said, “the current field is terrible and is a mess by the end of the season.

        “I love turf, and I believe it makes the fields look better and much better to play on. I think the turf field will make us seem like a better school overall as only three other schools in the conference have turf. My biggest concern is the logo. I believe we should change the logo to the Detroit Lion so it matches our helmets, and after all, it is the football field and the Detroit Lion is the football team’s logo.”

        The school board suggested that when the turf is put in, the soccer teams will be able to host their games on the football field, too.

         Junior boys soccer player Aidan Short said, “the soccer team having access to the field for games would be great, and the environment would be much better than playing in the middle of a corn field. The lights and the smooth field would really give our soccer athletes an amazing Salem soccer experience. 

         “There is a lot of good that will come from a turf field,” Short added. “The main thing that will come from it is excitement to play on something new. This will help with people wanting to play a sport and could make our program more serious. In my opinion, I believe that the money is well spent with a turf field as long as soccer can use it as well. I play soccer, and because of this, my sport could greatly be impacted by this new addition in a positive way. Based on my experience at away games, I have acquired the opinion that turf fields are overall better than a grass field. This is because turf is even, so the whole field is the same height for the most part so there are no bumps that would disrupt the ball or cause injury.”

         Briscoe said, “this addition is a good use of money since the field can be used to host multiple sporting events like soccer and football. I believe the turf field will serve as an amazing resource for raising funds for the school and providing an excellent and reliable area for such sporting events.”

           With the different fall sports that will use the football field, questions about game and practice scheduling have been raised. Will they be able to share the field and not have games overlap?

              “If soccer shares with football, football will get the benefit and choose the better practice times,” Sophomore Flora Wade said. “Their field is getting fixed, and they have more attention over the winning teams, for example, boys soccer. If girls and boys soccer, and football have to share one field, not everyone will get a say and have the practice times they want. Football will get the attention and most likely have the say in situations like practice times.”

         Short believes that scheduling shouldn’t be a problem in the future. “I think that the soccer team and football team will be able to share the turf field, because the soccer team can practice on the old field and only play our games on the turf,” he said.

         With the money being placed in these two projects, other groups in the school have expressed their dissatisfaction with how their concerns have not been prioritized.

          “I play soccer and tennis,” Wade said. “The football field was just recently renovated, yet the tennis courts and soccer fields have been left the same for years. I understand I could be biased because of the sports I am in, but our teams aren’t the only people who have made comments on the fields and courts. Community members, boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls tennis have made complaints on how the quality of the facilities are affecting their practices and games.”

          Sophomore Sidney Burton said that the tennis courts have been an issue ever since her dad was in high school. “I have always hoped that they would discuss fixing the tennis courts,” she said, “because they have been a problem for as long as I can remember, and they don’t look good. I have never had a time in my life that the courts were in good condition. 

         “When the ball bounces off a crack, it completely throws off my game. I’m also constantly worried that when I serve or am playing, that I will accidentally step in one of the cracks. I have to change my serving spots because of where they are.”

          Junior Lilli Gilstrap said that she thinks the school board hasn’t seen the tennis courts as a big issue because “all they’ve been doing for years is filling the cracks and craters with concrete, thinking that that’ll be a permanent fix. Not only that, but they repainted the poles and the lines and that’s the only thing that has been changed.

          “It’s very disappointing that these adults, who we are supposed to trust to be fair and to be able to solve problems when community members come forward with various problems, don’t do the job they are supposed to,” Gilstrap explained. “Instead, they do what they think would make them jump higher than other schools around us. I would become ecstatic if there were steps taken towards renovating the courts. I don’t know the whole process to begin the renovations, but I would at least like for the school board to have a discussion to start the process and get people talking about it.”

           Junior Raelee Cockerill hoped that the tennis courts would have at least been brought up during the school board meeting. But she also concluded that since tennis isn’t a main sport for Salem, it would be more realistic not to hope.

          “The news of the new football turf made me a little upset, because the tennis courts have been an issue for years,” Cockerill said. “For as long as I’ve been doing tennis, since middle school, it has always been an issue, but there has been no process to fix them. There are a lot of cracks, the fence surrounding the courts is rusty and has holes, and the slanted hill makes it hard as well. I know my coach, Mrs. Nice, has emailed and asked many times for there to be changes in various ways. Each sport should be as important as other sports are.”

          Burton said, “I think that the football field shouldn’t be the highest priority. It isn’t in good shape, but it isn’t in bad enough shape that it is a top priority. The courts have cracks all over them. Some of them are deep enough that I could fit my whole foot in it. They are in the middle of the court, the border, the serve line, and the area around the courts. The fencing is also really worn down. There is constant paint and a lot of rust on it that a ball can go through. I have hit it many times without trying and the ball will fly through the fence and land in the grass or hit the school. I would like for the courts to just be redone.” 

       Gilstrap said the news of the new football field was not shocking at all. “I support the football boys and them getting better equipment and a better field, but not turf. Turf is expensive, and I mean very expensive. When playing on turf, the players are also more prone to ankle and knee injuries. This past season we had a game where there was a major heat wave and it was hot, uncomfortably hot, I mean unbearably hot! The sun was beating down on all of us and it was not pleasant. In that state, if we had turf, you wouldn’t be able to touch it. The black rubber would’ve been so hot to the touch that you couldn’t play.”

      Wade said,  “I think turf fields appear as a good idea, but studies have shown that turf has increased injuries in ACL tears, and hip and knee injuries. I like the idea of natural fields, just so we are accustomed to what other schools have. If we stay with the field material we have now, we could save more money, or give it to a more beneficial cause. I’m concerned with the debt our schools already have and why we decided on updating the football field, when many other programs have needed attention. The thought of turf and new tennis courts were mentioned in past meetings, yet nothing has been changed. I wonder if it is really going to happen, and if it is, will the community approve?”

       Understanding the concerns student athletes have, Interim Superintendent Dr. Kim Thurston expressed that the tennis courts are just as important as the other projects, but didn’t fit into this year’s cycle. “There is a planning component when deciding which projects to do,” he said, “it’s about being conservative and responsible with the community’s money.” 

       With this, Thurston has stated that the tennis courts will be worked on next year, along with other projects that are yet to be approved by the board.