26 June 2006 Issue #26

Four years ago, then Islander Sports Foundation President Dave Hammel and I came to the realization that artificial turf was needed on Niedermeyer Field, home to many of the Coronado High School sports teams.

What had been once been one of the most beautiful stands of grass we had ever seen just a few short years before, was now completely bare in the middle third of the field. The presence of the old Cutler Field, now the site of Coronado Middle School, allowed Coronado’s teams to practice in the old facility and play their home games on the new Niedermeyer Field.

Now that the adjunct field was no longer available, too much activity on the lone remaining field tore it up. What in theory was a nice problem to have, hundreds of kids participating in sports, was wearing out the once pristine grass installation.

So Hammel and I set off on a two-man fact-finding quest, visiting several of the other artificial turf installations in the county, learning in the extended process what seemed to work and what didn’t. Once we had a handle on the concept, we started work on the pesky problem of how to fund this much-needed improvement to the field.

Looking back on the past 4 years, there were three or four critical meetings that determined the future fate of the project that now includes new turf and a new track at Coronado High School and a new field at Coronado Middle School. From a funding perspective, a lunch gathering involving Dave Blumenthal, Mark Blumenthal, Hammel and me was one of the seminal events. It was at that point that Dave Blumenthal, who has ably served the Coronado community as both our superintendent of schools and as a city councilman, first broached the concept of getting the Coronado Community Development Agency involved in the funding.

It turned out that the stadium, which to the untrained eye looked completed, still was cordoned off at one end by a chain link fence and technically the complex wasn’t finished. Further, the original plans for the football field included artificial turf, but that was ‘value engineered out’ (the school district ran out of money) at the last moment.

After many meetings, too many E-mails to count, phone calls aplenty, and the valued help and assistance from a good many folks in the community, the turf and track project is now officially underway. Past ISF President Susan Schelkun played a valuable role in the project as did current President Lee Pontes. After a brief picture ceremony last week (see attached photo) the construction project began in earnest.

"We’re anticipating removing 4,000 cubic yards of dirt from the high school," said Steve Davey, owner of Byrom-Davey Construction, the general contractor for the project. "And 2,500 cubic yards from the middle school. The grass should be gone by now." Pause for effect… but in reality the grass has been gone for at least 4 years.

In days of yore, football fields had crowns or peaks running down the middle of the field, which were installed for drainage purposes. At some of the older schools in San Diego County, Crawford High School as an example, if you stand on one sideline, you can only see the players and coaches on the other sideline from the waist up.

"The biggest crown we ever had was at Grossmont High School," said Davey, whose company is currently working on a dozen turf installations simultaneously. "They had a two percent crown on their field and we had to haul away 8,000 cubic yards of dirt."

"Things are going pretty smoothly right now with the Coronado project, knock on wood," Davey added. "This whole week we’ll be grading and toward the end of the week we’ll install the drainage. The fields will be almost exactly level. There will be no more than one-quarter inch of variance from sideline to sideline. Everything is laser-graded. The skip loader and our 12-foot blade are both laser controlled."

In mid-July the asphalt for the track will be poured and will then be allowed to cure for 14 days. Atlas Track is the supplier of the synthetic track. The fields at both CHS and CMS will be covered in Field Turf, the industry leader.

Byrom-Davey has just finished an installation at Los Angeles Valley College and is working on El Toro, Mission Viejo and Loyola High School in the L.A. area. The workers on the Coronado project are enjoying the cool weather and surrounding area. Temperatures on the L.A. Valley College project were often in excess of 100 degrees. Plus, the daily commute is much shorter for the San Diego-based crew.

Another project that will start soon for Byrom-Davey will be a new field installation at the future home of Lincoln High School. Works starts at the site of another semi-regular rival of Coronado’s, Scripps Ranch High School, in a couple of weeks.

"This is the hubbub of the summer," Davey said of his company’s busiest season. "The next two months are really busy. When September comes around, things will slow down … a little bit."

On the off chance that you haven’t seen your neighbor’s kid zipping around the block lately, odds are he’s in Annapolis playing water polo. Sixteen members of the Coronado Aquatics Club, under the direction of Head Coach Randy Burgess, are spending 10 days on the East Coast training, competing, and getting better in their sport.

Attendees include Van Burgess, Josh Clapper, Pete Connif, Jackson Crow-Mickle, Jake Frese, Patrick Geer, Braydon Hummeldorf, Jackson Hummeldorf, Andrew Ireland, Alex Johnson, Shane Owens, Eitan Peled, Tommy Schofer, Asante Sefa-Boakye, Prince Sefa-Boakye, and Garrett Smerdon.

Brave parents, who are serving as chaperones include Ken Ireland, Chip Johnson, Kofi Sefa-Boakye, Howie Frese and Mary Connif.

The trip itinerary included training and competition against the Navy Aquatics Club; a tour of historic Fort McHenry; a tour of Baltimore Harbor; a baseball game at Camden Yards featuring the Orioles and the Florida Marlins; more training; a tournament; and a then the Navy Water Polo Camp. Personally, my hair is turning green from the chlorine exposure from some 2,700 miles away.

CHS Head Cross Country Coach George Green lobbed a note to Your Natterer to say that the summer program for current or incoming athletes interested in running cross country will start this week. "We’ll be meeting at the Spreckels Park bandstand Friday, June 30^th at 5 pm," said Green. For more information, please call Coach Green at 435-3633 or go to the program’s website at Islandertrack.com.

With a travel squad of 13 players, CHS Head Basketball Coach Sandy Dillon and crew participated in a summer roundball tournament over the weekend and came away with positive results. Armed with two practices and an additional hour thrown in for good measure, the once and future Islanders played in five games.

Playing 20-minute running clock halves, in 95 degree heat at Grossmont H.S., Coronado started with a 38-32 victory over Steele Canyon. The starting lineup included Geoff Worley and Drew Zeller at the guards, Chas Marks and Matt Oakley at the forwards and JJ Pontes at center. This game featured double figure scoring from Marks and Oakley, with a nice floor game and four assists from Worley.

Valhalla was the next opponent, and Coronado won again by the score of 48-40. The next game, played at University City against the Centurions was a 48-43 loss, but the entire second half Dillon played the younger portion of his team. Next was a 45-38 victory over North Valley High School from Reno, which featured Cole McLean as the leading scorer. Dillon said of his rising junior sharp shooter, "He played very, very well. He learned the ropes last summer."

Dillon added, "It was a very pleasing weekend. Matt Fowler can play and we have some real quickness. Oakley is a whole lot quicker than you have seen him. He’s got his confidence. This year I think we’ll just attack the ball with our quickness. We’ll meet the ball at half court (on defense) and make it happen. JJ has been coming after the ball and has gotten much more physical. Benson Lorden played very well and played everywhere. He played the 2, the 3 and the 5 (guard, forward and center) this weekend. He may have been our leading rebounder. He played the 5 some because he jumps so well. At the end of games, we may put him at the defensive guard spot."

This is the last edition of "Nado Natterings" prior to the 32^nd Annual Coronado Independence Day 15K Run – 5K Run/Walk. The race, which benefits the Islander Sports Foundation and the CHS and CMS sports teams, begins at Tidelands Park at 7 am. Entry fees are now $30 and $33 the day of the race.

This year’s race is presented by GMH Promotions, a Coronado-based screen printing and embroidery company. To register for the event information, please go to kathyloperevents.com or call 619-298-7400. It’s a fun event for a good cause, so sign up today.

Three weeks ago in this space, Your Nattering Sage and Soothsayer (with a tip of the cap to the late, great Johnny Carson) predicted that the Miami Heat would win the NBA Finals in six games over the Dallas Mavericks. Two weeks ago, after Dallas dominated the Heat in their first two contests on the Mavs’ home floor, I waffled more than a Hoyt Wilhelm knuckleball regarding my prognostication. At that point the Heat needed to win four of the next five games to capture the Larry O’Brien trophy. So instead, they won four straight, allowing your scribe to take only partial credit, all right very little credit, for the initial prediction… I watched the last period of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers on much the same basis that I have watched the World Cup – to see the best athletes in the world play their particular sport at the highest level. The effort expended by both teams in the championship final, won by the Hurricanes 3-1, was amazing to watch, as both teams gave 100 percent and played their hearts out. If all NHL teams played that hard during their 80-game regular season, the players would all be on the injured list by Game 30… The Natter Wife and I went to see the Padres vs. Mariners over the weekend and were reminded during one of the scoreboard trivia games that current Padres centerfielder Mike Cameron is one of only 15 major leaguers in history to hit four home runs in one game. He turned the trick while playing for Seattle vs. the White Sox May 2, 2002. Two players have done it since, Shawn Green for the Dodgers exactly three weeks after Cameron and Carlos Delgado Sept. 25, 2003 for the Blue Jays… Finally, it’s easy to kick a team when they’re down (A lifelong Cub fan, I know these things), but the U.S. Soccer Team in the World Cup was surprisingly inept, even for a traditional non-soccer power like our country. Losing three consecutive games isn’t the worst part of this quadrennial equation. For that honor I would nominate the Americans mustering only four shots on goal in 270 minutes of tournament play. It’s providential that given that sorry level of firepower, this U.S. squad didn’t line up to represent our country during the Revolutionary War, or we’d all be drinking daily tea at 4 pm. One of our two gooooooaaaaaalls in the tourney was actually scored on a header by the opposing team. U.S. Head Coach Bruce Arena said he may pursue other career opportunities that come his way. Hmmm, ya think so?... Have a great July 4^th. Nowhere is our national holiday observed better, more completely or more passionately than in Coronado.