Bringing a Synthetic Turf Field to Bremerton’s Memorial Stadium Nate Gillam—Bremerton HS Head Football Coach Dave Boynton—BSD School Board Director Joe Kennedy—PSNS/Military Liaison

Steering Committee Members  Nate Gillam—BHS Head Football Coach  Dave Boynton—Bremerton School Board Director  Joe Kennedy—PSNS Liaison

Purpose of Presentation  Share the goals and the expectations for athletics and activities who use Memorial Stadium.  Outline a 3-Phase Plan to improve Memorial Stadium to make it the premier facility on the Peninsula.  To gain support from local stake holders in moving forward to research, raise money for and install a state-of-the-art synthetic turf field at Memorial Stadium as well as other future improvements.  Coordinate a plan of action as we move forward.

Program Vision Be a premier program through dedicated coaching and mentoring of young people to be competitive as well as positive community members.

How Far We’ve Come  Increase Participation 2005—25 players.2012—54 players  Weight Room Equipment Improved 2005—Outdated2012—10 Racks  Improve Athlete Academics 2005—30%+2012—>2%  Change Culture of Losing ‘05-’09—6%‘10-’12—64%

How Far We’ve Come cont’d  Players of the Year ’10—Kyle Kennedy (co-player) ‘12—Mikey Lawrence  All-State Players ‘12—Lucas Anderson, LB  Playoffs—1 st time in 19 years Had to play off-site due to field req’s  Boys & Girls Soccer

What Still Needs to be Done  Upgrade the facilities at Memorial Stadium 20+ year grass Unusable for majority of year Used by BHS Football, BHS Soccer (boys & girls), Olympic College Soccer (men’s & women’s), BHS Track Missing playoff revenue opportunities  Soccer and Football

What Makes A Sports Facility Great?  Safe, high-performance playing surface.  A facility that inspires pride among students, staff, alumni and community.  Multi-purpose field that can be used extensively, even in the rain and during months when grass doesn’t grow.  Environmentally-friendly fields that conserve water, eliminate the need for fertilizers or pesticides and decrease maintenance costs.  Close proximity to school’s main campus as well as being centrally located for outside users.

Why Memorial Stadium?  Best use of space:  Provides athletic teams game and practice space  Band practice  Physical education classes  Potential site for community events  Cost-effective maintenance:  Upkeep of a synthetic turf field costs two to three times less than natural turf  Community use and involvement:  Community sports leagues can rent the field; fees will bring additional revenue to both school and community  Kent/Yakima pee-wee tourney example  Allows for a multi-use facility that we can showcase. It’s a facility our community will take pride in.

The natural grass field at Bremerton Memorial Stadium has been one of the best in the area. The maintenance crew and the district have done an excellent job keeping it up over the past years. However, the current grass turf is over 25 years old and it has deteriorated tremendously. Current Field Mud Puddles

The entire infield of the current track would be converted to synthetic turf except the current high jump area at the North end would remain. All regulation lines would be sewn in for football and soccer. The end-zones would include writing as well as a simple center insignia. Potential Synthetic Turf Field

What is synthetic turf?  Synthetic or artificial turf is a grass-like surface that replicates lush natural grass in appearance and function.  When used on playing athletic fields, it provides a consistent year-round, all-weather playing surface built to withstand extended use without downtime for recovery.  Most synthetic turf systems installed today include a drainage layer*, a multi-layered backing system, and resilient grass blades that are infilled with a resilient granular filler to resemble natural turf. *Already installed in current field

Synthetic Turf – What You Should Know:  Synthetic turf can be utilized around 3,000 hours per year with no “rest” required, more than three times that of natural grass.  All synthetic turf fields are not the same. There are a variety of synthetic turf systems and infill materials.  As of December 2011, more than 7,000 synthetic turf fields are being used in North America for football, soccer, hockey, baseball, rugby, lacrosse and many other sports.  About half of all NFL teams currently play their games on synthetic turf and, since 2003, over 70 FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cup matches have been played on synthetic turf soccer fields.

Greater Peace of Mind Made with resilient materials for safety, synthetic turf sports fields provide a uniform and consistent playing surface. Traction, rotation and slip resistance, surface abrasion and stability meet the rigorous requirements of the most respected sports leagues and federations. During the past few years, more than 75 independent, credible research and studies have validated the safety of synthetic turf from groups including:  U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission  U.S Environmental Protection Agency  New York State Department of Environmental Conservation  New York State Department of Health  California Environmental Protection Agency  Connecticut Department of Public Health

Positive Environmental Impact  Depending on the region of the country, one full-size synthetic turf sports field saves 500,000 to 1,000,000 gallons of water each year. During 2011, about six billion gallons of water were conserved through its use.  Most of the current synthetic turf sports fields feature crumb rubber infill recycled from used tires (“cryogenically pulverized”), keeping more than 105 million used tires out of landfills.  The estimated amount of synthetic turf currently installed has also eliminated the need for nearly a millions of pounds of harmful pesticides and fertilizers, which has significant health and environmental implications.

Which local schools/ organizations have synthetic turf?  Silverdale Stadium—Used by Central Kitsap Schools and the current “go to” stadium due to proximity.  North Kitsap School District—Both North Kitsap HS and Kingston HS have artificial turf fields  Peninsula School District—Both Peninsula HS and Gig Harbor HS use Roy Anderson Field In addition, Gig Harbor HS has a multi-purpose field on site Another public use soccer/football/lacrosse field at Homestead park  Gordon Fields at Kitsap County Fairgrounds Which local schools/organizations are considering synthetic turf?  South Kitsap has been discussing for last few year (Macomber)  Upgrades to Pendergast Soccer Fields

How much does it cost? “Ready to Play” Estimated $600,000 (not $1 million)  This is considerably less than most people understand.  Can cut that cost even further with different “In Kind” services  Cost is less because the field has no “crown”

How much does it cost? (cont’d) Life Span of a Quality Artificial Surface years Current Maintenance Costs of Natural Surface Approx. $50,000/year Estimated Cost over 10 years NOT including major overhauls, loss of revenue due to recovery time $500,000

What about Revenue? Grass Field Events  Football – 6  Soccer – 12  Band/Events – 3  Track – 2  Misc. Events – 3  Revenue Generating Events* = 26 * This is limited to field playability and time for field to recover Artificial Surface Events FFootball – 15 BHS, MVMS, PeeWee SSoccer – 40+ BHS, OC, Rec. League PPractice – Unlimited All rec sports WWIAA Site – 10+ Soccer & Football RRevenue Generating Events = 65+

How could we pay for this? Insert amounts currently raised by your school. Then determine where you can bring in more funding. Athletic Boosters $ Corporations$ Band/Other Boosters$ “Friends of the School”$ 30 people x $5, people x $1,000 TOTAL:$

Proposed Timeframe  Phase I - No later than Summer 2014  Upgrade Memorial Stadium Field  Coordinate with District  Permitting and Procedural Items  Phase II & III – By 2017  Upgrade surrounding stadium facility  Improve Locker Room  Upgrade Middle School facility  Upgrade Legion Baseball Field

The Bottom Line  Installation of a synthetic turf field will provide a first class multi-purpose facility to maximize the use of Memorial Stadium in a way that will benefit both the student athletes, sports teams, parents and the entire Bremerton/Kitsap County community.

Next Steps?  We need your support, expertise, connection & influence in our community  We’ve peaked in our ability to fundraise Booster Club Uniforms Basic Team Needs

Questions?

Thank You! Nate Gillam Dave Boynton