By Spencer Sterritt

Artificial turf bringing new life to NDSS field

Jul 19, 2017 | 3:39 PM

NANAIMO — Athletes won’t have to watch out for rabbit holes when playing at NDSS anymore.

Ground was broken Wednesday morning by Nanaimo Ladysmith Public School District and City of Nanaimo representatives on a new artificial turf field behind the school for students and teams across the City.

District school board chair Steve Rae told NanaimoNewsNOW the current hole-ridden and unkempt field was a safety issue for their students and he’s thrilled athletes can have a home their proud to play on.

“If you watch (the players) during the school year, you’ll see they have cones set up where kids can’t run. How can you do that? You can’t it’s not safe. Our kids deserve to compete on the best fields they can and that’s what we’re doing here, putting our best foot forward.”

City staff previously estimated the field would get well over 2,000 hours of use per year.

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The new CFL-sized artificial turf, which will eventually have lights for night games, cost $3.6 million split between the school district and the City. It’s part of a shared-use agreement with the City and the larger purchase of the Rotary Bowl and Serauxmen Stadium.

Rae said revamping the NDSS grounds wouldn’t be possible for the district without assistance.

“We want to put as much money as we can into the classroom and unfortunately when we do that, things like (this field) fall to the side. This is a great achievement. I wish we could do more like this….but that’s the state of what school districts around the province are facing, that’s what we’re facing, making difficult decisions of where to spend our money.”

Councillor Bill Bestwick, who spoke at the groundbreaking, said the new field with benefit all Nanaimo residents and he expects it will be well-used by the school district, clubs and sports teams from all across Nanaimo and Vancouver Island University, who are right across the road.

Weather permitting, athletes should be able to play on the artificial turf by October.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit