Say goodbye to lawnmowers and hello to rubber pellets. Come February 2009, the Athletic Fields Project will be complete, including the installation of synthetic turf and the renovation of existing structures. “Gunn will soon have state-of-the-art athletic facilities,” Director of Athletics Chris Horpel said. “In fact, due in large part to the passage of Measure A, Gunn High School and the rest of the PAUSD will get a much needed face lift.”

Plans concerning resurfacing the football field with synthetic turf have been underway for the last five years, but have not been considered a high enough priority until recently. “Originally this project only entailed a synthetic turf field for the main field,” Assistant Principal Tom Jacoubowsky said. “We heard last November that the district was planning to do this and it wasn’t until the end of February that the plan came out to do all the fields.”

The renovations were made possible thanks to an anonymous donation of $2.6 million and $100,000 raised by Gunn Sports Boosters. According to the PAUSD Web site, Measure A, a bond that gives the district the ability to refurbish existing structures, as well as build new ones to accommodate the students’ needs, without raising tax rates, also contributed greatly. The ballot measure was passed on June 7, 2005 by a 73 percent margin and will continue to provide benefits for the district until 2011. As for the anonymous donation, $2.6 million was donated in order to jumpstart the installation of the synthetic turf, $74,377 of which was accepted by the board for the time being and the rest reserved for future projects.

The Athletic Fields Project is essentially a two-part process. The first part included resurfacing the main athletic field (the football field) with synthetic turf and constructing new jump pits for high jump, long jump and triple jump. “Also there is a new discus ring and a shot put ring,” Jacoubowsky said. “All of these were finished last Friday, Aug. 15, and are a dramatic improvement over wha we previously had.” The completion of the football field fell in sync with the commencement of the football season.

The second part involves replacing and resurfacing the baseball, softball, soccer and lacrosse fields (the lower fields), which will be completed in February. “There has never been an existing school that has had so much athletic construction going on at one time,” Jacoubowsky said.

Replacing the lower fields was only made possible due to the work done on the main field. “A lot of dirt had to be removed from our football field in order to install the turf, and that dirt was then used to level out and replace our softball, baseball, soccer and lacrosse fields,” Horpel said.

Synthetic turf completely eliminates the need for upkeep, which not only saves money but also reduces the water usage from the sprinklers needed to maintain the field. “With the number of people that use the fields on a daily basis, erosion is inevitable. There are so many groups that use our fields that the grass could never recover,” Horpel said. Yet another advantage of the synthetic turf is that weather is no longer a concern. “Synthetic turf was installed for a variety of reasons, but the main one is that it offers a consistent field of play regardless of the weather,” Jacoubowsky said. “There are minimal maintenance needs and it can be played on rain or shine.” Another drawback of a regular grass field is that there is a high causality between the detrition on a field and the recurrent number of injuries. “Despite the best efforts of our maintenance crew, our fields were always chewed up,” Horpel said. “Ankle sprains were common in after school sports as well as in PE.”

Not only is the synthetic turf a longer-lasting and cheaper alternative to regular grass, but it will also better accommodate the players’ needs and will be easier to play on. Due to wear and tear, the fields had not been in the best conditions, and many imperfections had been overlooked. “The soccer field had little holes in it and was really worn down,” junior soccer team member Maayan Dembo said. “Some parts were so worn down [that] they were just sandy.”

There are, however, some downsides to artificial turf. Friction between artificial turf and skin causes much greater burns than would regular grass. Also, turf heats up much more quickly when exposed to sunlight. Players that are used to playing on natural grass may experience some strain and injury in the legs due to the lack of “give” in synthetic turf.

Another item on the reconstruction to-do list is the pool. Although it is in close proximity to the fields, it is not a part of the Athletic Fields Project but rather an independent project. “I’m very excited about the pool because it was by far the worst athletic facility at Gunn, and our outstanding aquatic program was at a disadvantage,” Jacoubowsky said.

The project began shortly after the Bat Cave was fully reconstructed, which took place for the majority of the 2007-08 school year. The Bat Cave used to be a dim area in which students could purchase and eat lunch. Now, decked out with plants and a glass ceiling, the Bat Cave has been revamped into the Fish Bowl. “The changes have made it easier to get around and the new roof has dramatically increased the amount of light in that area,” Jacoubowsky said. “It used to be a very dark place and it now has a much better ambiance.”

Students appear to be satisfied with the outcome and the fact that the construction is now behind them. “I like the construction they’ve done; it looks much neater,” junior Kevin Shin said. “I’m ecstatic that the construction’s over because I used to have to walk around the entire place.”

The final outlook of the Bat Cave may be a crowd-pleaser but the journey there was not a favorable one. “The construction created a significant disruption in student routine,” senior Avery Lewis said. “Although it may have been a necessary burden to endure for the benefit of Gunn, the Student Activities Center was basically completely disrupted by moving the cafeteria in there due to construction.”

The Athletic Fields Project is just the beginning of the construction that Gunn will be undergoing in the years to come. According to Horpel, the storage bins will be the first to go and will be replaced with one large storage facility. “We also need to expand our press box, bathrooms and concessions stand,” Horpel said. The administration also has its eyes set on projects outside of the athletics department; the IA building that is scheduled to start construction in January 2009. “After that, we’re looking at renovating the main office, Spangenberg, a new RC building and a second gym,” Jacoubowsky said. “It hasn’t been decided yet what will go first, but all those will be happening in the next few years. It is going to be quite a construction site at Gunn.”