ECONOMIC BOOST
June 15, 2018
LIBRARY: LEARNING AT THE LIBRARY
June 15, 2018
School is out for summer: Its been that way for a couple weeks.
By the time the first bell rings, the athletic landscape in Lafourche Pariah will be drastically different – a welcome fight to football and soccer coaches in the area.
Work lb well underway to replace the natural grass surfaces at the parish’s three public high school football fields. The project is expected to be flushed well before the start of the football season, this fell.
At South Lafourche High School, the grass has been dug upfront the old field and all of the pre-existing drainage has been pulled out. as well. The filled has been leveled and covered with shells. Among the next ate pa will he to bring in the artificial surface, which Lafourche Parish voters chose to fund through a pre-existing millage renewal last fall.
The project is being done by Sports Contractors Unlimited LLC and the crew has been working diligently to stay ahead of schedule. Now that the grass has been uprooted and shells are in place, work is more efficient because even after rain, there is less mud and standing moisture. which could cause delays.
The project has Lafourche coaches smiling because they believe the 2018 football sees on will be played on a safer, more reliable surface for dot area’s student-athletes.
“I think this is along time coming/’ Thibodaux football coach Chris Dugas said last fall during a radio interview when the vote passed in Lafourche. “1 think we all as coaches have done the best job that we can throughout the seasons to keep our fields in the right condition, but Star tunes with weather or other things, it ends up being out of our control With the I think we win be able to have a safer surface no matter what the weather may be throughout the week.”
The project is a long time coming for coaches who Bay this a safety issue, above all else.
The local climate is hot and wet from August-October with Late-afternoon showers often coinciding with football games scheduled throughout the week.
The problem, coaches soy. is that there are just too many games on the schedule between high school varsity games, junior varsity games and middle school contests, which are also played on the fields.
Studies on natural grass surfaces estimate that even the beet-kept surfaces have a limit on how many games it could host before becoming overworked and vulnerable. The number of games locally sometimes triples that number, which is where the demand for turf comes in.
In one game between Central Lafourche and Thibodaux in recent years, the surface got chopped up during the game and both teams lost players to ankle injuries – a situation which both coaches chalked up to the field after the game.
The turf will remedy that with other benefits Once it’s in place, if 8 hands-off. It will not ever need to be painted or mowed, which will save schools money.
“Ira a no-bra mar. We need that.” Central Lafourche football coach Keith Menard said. “we could give 100 reasons, but the biggest thing is for the safety of our kids. They work hard and they deserve a safe, reliable surface to compete on.”
TERREBONNE COACHES SAY THEY WISH THEY’D HAVE NEXT
Lafourche Parish has their turf on the way. but a strong argument could be made that Terrebonne Parish needs it more man their neighbors.
Unlike Lafourche where all of the public high schools have their own stadiums, Terrebonne Parish has four public schools, but just two places to play varsity football games – one at Terrebonne and one at South Terre-bonne.
That means mat there is at least one varsity high school football game at each stadium each week – sometimes two. Combine middle school activity, soccer matches and other school activities and Terrebonne’s fields are often waterlogged when conditions are moist.
A few seasons ago. Terrebonne High School’s field got shredded and needed to be re-sodded in the year.
Also in recent years. Ellender has bad to move a borne game to the road because a game was played during a rainstorm an South Terrebonne’s field, tearing the grass down to mud
In that season, junior varsity
games were also moved off the field to let the grass recover.
Patriots coach David McCormick called the situation tough to swallow because it was both a safety issue and also an economic issue. By moving the game, El-lender lost thousands of dollars in revenue.
“I couldn’t imagine playing on there and getting a kid severely hurt because it’s just not what it needs to be/’ McCormick said at the time. “It’ll hurt us at the gate, but it’s the right thing to do.”
The Terrebonne Parish School Board did a study to explore the costs and benefits of field turf in 3014 and the exploration yielded that the project would cost about $300,000 – $1 minion per field.
The school beard set aside $330,000 to possibly use for turf, but talks about the issue coincided with a local economic dip. which caused the discussion to cool.
But coaches wish there would be a way to get it done. The kids, they say, deserve better.
“The field can’t take file abuse,” South Terrebonne football coach Richard Curlin said. “You try to roll it. You try to keep the mud off it best you can. … It’s physically impossible.”
‘It’s a no-brainer. We need this. We could give 100 reasons, but the biggest thing is for the safety of our kids.’
Memorial stadium at south Lafourche High school’s field has been pulled out and covered in shells- a major step in the ultimate goal, which is to cover the field in artificial turf, Lafourche forth school the getting the few surface before the start of 2018-19 sports year.
South Terrebonne High School’s football field was water togged so had a few seasons ago that Eliender had to move a varsity football game, which cost the team thousand of dollars at the gate.
