Practice field re-opens after lengthy renovation process

Rio Popper and Christian Pardo

After nine months of work, the field formerly known as Nicotine Field has finally been finished, and is now open to athletes and will soon open to the public.
“We started construction at the beginning of last summer,” Administrative Vice Principal Garry Gooch said. “It was supposed to be done in October, but the company installed it wrong, so it took a lot longer than we planned on it taking.”
The company still charged the school district for the extra work that happened to correct its mistake.
“Right now, there is litigation going on,” Gooch said. “It was [the company’s] fault, so there might be a lawsuit if it charges the school.”
Though the field took a long time to be renovated, it was opened to the lacrosse team a few weeks ago.
“Before we got the new field, we had to share the field or stagger practices,” said Alexandra Siri, junior and co-captain of the varsity girls Lacrosse team. “Having the new field is a huge improvement—it’s great.”
Conditions on the field also help teams practices be more efficient.
“The turf is so even, and it’s so springy and vibrant,” Siri said. “There’s enough space for us to run a scrimmage and do drills at the same time.”
For now, the field is only being used by Sequoia athletes, allowing both administrators and users to get a custom to the new space.
“In this district, there is an agreement that—when we are not using the facilities for school events, the facilities are open to the public for its use,” Gooch said.
The former name, Nicotine Field, is also being retired. It will be up to Principal Sean Priest to pick the new name.