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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (June 22, 2016)
Sports B1 Appeal Tribune, www.silvertonappeal.com Wednesday, June 22, 2016 ON HOME TURF SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE Construction is underway on a synthetic playing field at Silverton High School’s McGinnis Field. The project, boosted by a $50,000 grant from USA Football, is scheduled to be completed at the end of July. Synthetic field to replace grass at McGinnis this July LUIS RAMIREZ STATESMAN JOURNAL SILVERTON - Silverton High is on the verge of becoming the next Mid-Valley school with an synthetic playing field as the McGinnis Field project is scheduled to be completed at the end of July. After discussing the project for 10 years and having those talks stall multi- ple times, it finally came to fruition when the school district received a $50,000 grant from USA Football to build a turf field. After receiving the donation, the Sil- ver Falls School District had to move quickly to finish the project. “They (USA Football) have a joint partnership with FieldTurf and what ended up happening is they put us on a time clock to complete the project in 12 months,” Silverton athletic director Greg Kaatz said. “We went full steam ahead and were really fortunate to get some businesses on board right off the bat.” Silverton’s booster club, the Silver Fox Foundation, secured donations from several local businesses and community members including Les Schwab, Roth’s, Silverton Legacy, Bill Johnson All-State Insurance, Rod Orr Family Medical Group, Pacific Sanitation, Hobbs Paint- ing, Ri-Ky Roofing, K & E Excavation, Kuenzi Electric and the trust fund of Dean Stiles. “I think it’s a source of pride for our small community to do a project this big,” Kaatz said. “I think it’s a reflection of our community and the ability of our community to come together for such a large project.” On top of the donations from the busi- nesses, several other community mem- bers pitched in to help the process move forward. In the past, the main holdup of the transition to the turf field was the large price tag. However, the funds started pouring in after the initial dona- tion from USA Football. “It’s going to be a real benefit for us because it helps us take that next step in the evolution of what schools are doing now days,” Kaatz said. “You don’t have many natural grass surfaces that are within your stadium. It gives us an op- portunity to use a piece of property that previously we were only using 15-20 times a year.” Silverton football will be the main beneficiary of the turf, but the turf will also now be available to the soccer pro- grams and youth teams in the area. “The field provides a venue for our fans and our community members to watch more events,” Kaatz said. “It im- proves our fan experience and has the ability to be reused over and over again. SHELDON TRAVER / SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL Silverton High School students celebrate Homecoming during a football game. It’s going to help our maintenance and grounds department and it’ll really pay dividends in the future.” If finished on time, the field will be available for use in August. “This project would not have been possible without the Silver Fox Founda- tion taking the lead on this project,” Kaatz said. “The turf is going to take up most of the attention, but the base and the foundation for this field is going to be of high quality and it’s going to be a great surface for a lot of years.” lramirez@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com/@LuisRamirez10 SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE Workers use heavy machinery in the process of replacing the grass at McGinnis Field. REACH US: Cliff Kirkpatrick, ckirkpatr@Salem.gannett.com