(ENUMCLAW, Washington) - When a team is forced to play its homecoming game as a road game, you can almost bet there is a problem with the field.
That’s a pretty safe bet if you’re Enumclaw High School and the field is Pete’s Pool at the Enumclaw Expo Center.
The solution is nearing completion and it is coming in the form of an AstroTurf® field. The project has been guided by Erik Sweet of SLA Landscape Architecture in Renton.
For many Enumclaw residents, the upgrade is long overdue and will allow area athletes to play on a first-class field. Until now, the field was in no better condition than the dormant landfill which once occupied the land the field was built on.
Pete’s Pool was named after Pete Chorak, who owned a tavern/motel near the site of the field. The field was constructed by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
The main use of the field was for the games of the Enumclaw Silver Barons, a semi-pro team made up of area loggers and farmers.
In the early 1990s, while the facility was still owned by King County, Rick Bathum and Sheldon Thiel formed the YEAS (Your Enumclaw Area Stadium) Improvement committee to push for needed improvements.
After the improvements were made, the group was dissolved, but was reformed in 2009, because of the condition of the field and other needed facility repairs and upgrades.
Since that time, the usage of the stadium has skyrocketed. Prior to the reformation of the YEAS group, the field hosted about five games per week. Then the field began seeing usage from Green River Community College for games and practice, as well as from area youth sports organizations. The total number of games jumped to nearly 50 games per week, not counting the hours of practice that occurred on a daily basis.
All the play, combined with the wet weather of the Pacific Northwest, the poor drainage of the field, and the high crown of the field, created a perfect storm of sorts.
In 2010, Enumclaw High School played its final two home games in Orting, in Pierce County. Over 90 years, the team had never played a home game outside of Enumclaw, and in one season they missed two, including homecoming.
“Enumclaw is a very proud and independent community,” said Rick Bathum, one of the co-founders of YEAS. “To this community, it affords a belated sense of progress. It presents an opportunity for all existing athletic programs to have a reliable place to compete.”
According the Bathum, this move will allow all games played there to be decided on the field and not by the field.
This means Enumclaw will no longer be the only high school in King County that does not play its games on a synthetic turf field.
In fact, King County holds a special place in the history of synthetic turf. AstroTurf was installed in the Astrodome in Houston in 1966, giving birth to artificial playing surfaces. In 1967, Seattle’s Memorial Stadium became the third installation and the first field used by high school teams. That field was removable and lay over an asphalt base. Following football season each year, the AstroTurf was removed and the asphalt was used for parking.
The new Enumclaw field will be AstroTurf MT 42H, featuring the revolutionary new Horseshoe fiber.
This new fiber is enjoying unprecedented success in the sports field marketplace, due to factors such as its unique shape. The fiber is an “Omega” shape with two end columns with a thicker diameter. The design imparts mechanical memory so that the fiber remains upright longer, unlike other fields whose fibers quickly flatten and split or shred at the spine. The Horseshoe fiber continues to spring back to its original configuration, even after years of heavy foot traffic or exposure to ultra-violet radiation.
“We’re excited about the new field at Enumclaw,” said AstroTurf President Bryan Peeples. “This is going to be a great source of pride for the community and a tremendous boost to athletic programs at all age levels.”
Support for the new field has been widespread, thanks to the efforts of YEAS. Individual donations have ranged from $5-$10,000. The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe donated $15,000 and Mutual of Enumclaw donated $50,000.
The organization has also raised significant grant money, including $200,000 from the NFL and the Seattle Seahawks, as well as a $300,000 from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office.
Installation will be complete in time for football season and the first game will be the Enumclaw Hornets vs. the Yelm Tornadoes.
About AstroTurf®
For many athletes and sport enthusiasts, the AstroTurf® brand has redefined the way the game is played. The company offers advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport and specialized synthetic turf systems with proprietary engineered technologies, leveraging the industry’s first vertically integrated manufacturing system. A growing number of high schools, colleges, professional sports teams and municipalities continue to select AstroTurf®-branded products for their premium quality, technical superiority and safety. Recent innovations from AstroTurf® include GameDay Grass™ 3D with RootZone®, a polyethylene/nylon hybrid system which most closely replicates natural grass; a non-chemical antimicrobial shield protecting against MRSA and other infectious bacteria; and AstroFlect™ Technology which significantly reduces turf surface temperatures. To learn more, visit www.astroturfusa.com.
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