Leveling the Private Playing Field By Josh Barr |
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Entrenched as the most prominent athletic powerhouse among Washington area high schools, DeMatha finally plans to catch up with some of its peers when it comes to sports facilities. The Hyattsville Catholic school hopes to break ground next year on a $9 million convocation center that includes a gymnasium and is in discussions to have artificial turf practice and game fields installed at off-campus sites. The improvements merely will keep DeMatha in step with many of the region's private schools, which are in the midst of a spending spree to build top-flight athletic facilities that would be the envy of many colleges. And the building boom is not limited to traditional athletic powers; it includes less well-known schools seeking to enhance their reputations.
Counting projects recently completed, those under construction and others planned for the next few years, area private schools are spending in excess of $150 million on new sports facilities. This does not include wish lists on long-range master plans for several schools. Administrators cite several factors for the construction boom, among them heightened competition to attract students, the standard set by many colleges that in recent years have built expensive student recreation centers, and the lower maintenance costs associated with artificial turf fields, whose versatility and sturdiness reduce the number of canceled games and practices. Officials cite another reason as well: What was sufficient 40 or 50 years ago no longer is considered adequate in a modern era of heightened expectations among parents, students and alumni. "I think there are reasons that make sense for why we're seeing it," said Peter Roby, director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University. "You hope it's needed, that it's a timely addition and improvement as opposed to trying to keep up with the Joneses. Unfortunately, I think some of it is, 'Because prep school "X" has it, we need to do the same.' That certainly is what you see more of at the college level." The cost of an artificial turf field is approximately $1 million, a figure many private schools view as small in the long run. Schools save money because the fields do not require cutting, fertilizing or seeding. And, if necessary, more than one team can use the field at the same time, which is especially important for schools in areas where land values have soared. Further, unlike grass fields, which can be ruined if played on during a heavy downpour, artificial turf fields can be used immediately after the heaviest of thunderstorms. "The turf field is practical beyond anyone's expectations," said Phil Brach, vice president for institutional advancement at St. John's, a Northwest D.C. school that installed one artificial turf field in 2004 and is trying to acquire permits to install turf in its stadium. "It stops raining and 10 minutes later you can go on it. It was essentially almost like purchasing another field for us." St. John's will be among more than 20 local private schools to have either installed artificial turf or have it on the way. The $1 million price tag often is seen as cost-prohibitive for public schools. While synthetic turf fields are growing more prevalent at public schools in Virginia and Maryland, there are only about a dozen such fields at public schools in the region, and none in the District. Public school systems, in general, simply lack the money that private schools can accumulate through tuition dollars and alumni giving to undertake expensive capital improvements to their athletic facilities. "The competition for people is unbelievable and if you don't have stuff, forget it," Pallotti Athletic Director Steve Walker said. The Laurel school opened a $5 million gymnasium in 2004. Foxcroft, an all-girls school in Middleburg, is building a state-of-the-art field house. National Cathedral, another all-girls school in Northwest D.C., has a 45-foot climbing tower in its $26 million Agnes Underwood Athletic Center that was built underground and opened in 2002, just ahead of the start of the building boom. At Georgetown Prep and many other schools, officials determined that older athletic facilities no longer were keeping pace with demand. There are more teams (varsity, junior varsity, freshman) competing in more sports. More practice space is needed and a gym that seats only a few hundred spectators no longer is adequate. "Frankly, we grew out of [the old field house] 25 to 30 years ago with the number of activities we had on campus," Georgetown Prep Athletic Director Dan Paro said. Talking about the Rev. William George, the school's president, Paro said: "Having not done anything in 40 years, one of his goals was to build something that will not be outdated in 10 or 15 years. His goal was trying to reach into the future; we have an opportunity to do this once." Georgetown Prep moved its baseball field and reworked its nine-hole golf course to accommodate space for its new facility, which includes a gymnasium with space for 1,000 spectators, a 50,000-square-foot field house with an indoor track, a wrestling room with bleachers, a pool that can host races measured in yards or meters and a 6,000-square-foot weight room. There's also a snack bar that serves crab cakes and a big-screen television and leather sofas for students to relax. As part of its upcoming project, St. John's plans to construct a baseball clubhouse, with a team locker room, coaches' offices, a press box and a VIP suite that can be used at football and baseball games. The cost: $1.5 million. "In the private school market, everything seems to trickle down from the colleges after a few years," Brach said. "I think schools having dedicated space for their premier programs is going to be a growing trend." Other schools are mimicking colleges with their recreation centers, such as Severn School's $12 million field house, which is scheduled to open Jan. 1. The $10 million Herndon Kilby Student-Athletic Center at Annapolis Area Christian, set to open in August, includes a 25,000-square-foot indoor practice area, similar to the ones many college athletic departments build for their teams. Many schools pay for the improvements by raising money through a capital campaign. Others rely on one or two large donors to fund the project. Some schools take out bonds. To finance its project -- along with $12 million for infrastructure and equipment -- Georgetown Prep took the unusual route of leasing four acres for 99 years so that a builder could construct a 473-unit apartment complex on the edge of its campus. But unlike college athletic departments, which can dangle naming rights that receive publicity or improved ticket packages for donations, giving money to high school building projects offers little other than personal satisfaction. "I can't give them box seats for our football games," said Elizabeth Seton Athletic Director Candy Cage, whose all-girls school in Bladensburg is nearing completion of a $6 million cultural arts and athletics center. "I coached at Georgia Tech for five years. I know what ACC seats are worth. You know what we give them? We bring them up at the groundbreaking ceremony and we thank them, we thank them, we thank them." |
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