When the Grant High School boy’s varsity soccer team played Wilson after a recent fall rain, players slid across the field. A goalkeeper slipped and fell while trying to punt the ball. Players running down the field fell if they tried to change direction.
It happened so much it could’ve easily been a hockey game. Only this time, there wasn’t any ice. It was mud.
Football, soccer, baseball. No matter what the sport, if it’s played at Grant outdoors, you’re likely to hear complaining and grumbling about the field conditions.
“Our fields are one of the, if not the worst, playing surfaces in the Portland area,” said Diallo Lewis, Grant varsity football coach
While other schools throughout the Portland metro area enjoy the benefits of playing on artificial turf fields, Grant’s teams face limited options. Two home games a year for football. Soccer games that – after the first heavy rains of the season – look more like a mud wrestling contest than a battle on the pitch.
There’s been a campaign to raise money to install turf fields on campus, but the effort has been called weak at best by athletes, their parents and other Grant supporters. Some say the drive has been stalled by a lack of donors and a still struggling economy. Others criticize the fundraising effort for not being aggressive enough.
Either way, the result has been that Grant’s athletic programs continue playing on subpar surfaces, leaving athletes wondering if they’ll ever set foot on turf.
“The only frustrating part to me is when everyone says we are going to get the turf then they say, ‘Oh, it actually got pushed back,’” said Nathan Halverson, a junior Grant varsity football player. “I would not start telling people we are going to get it because then people gets their hopes up and they don’t want to hear it’s getting pushed back.“
For 12 years, the “Friends of Grant Athletics” has directed the campaign to get the turf installed. The group is dedicated to fundraising for the Grant field’s project. According to the “Friends” website, the cost of the project is estimated to be $1.9 million.
If the money gets raised, plans call for reconstruction of the Grant bowl, which includes the Mark Cotton field and a resurfaced track. The sloped grass field next to Hollyrood School also would become a turf. The project also will renovate the combined soccer and baseball field.
Lloyd Lindley is the president of Friends of Grant and he says he believes the field will be completed soon.
“I am passionate about this and I would like to see it completed by the fall of 2012,” Lindley said. “This should be a call to arms for alumni, companies and corporations and support the young people that come out of our education system to rally around this and make it happen.”
One of the largest schools in Portland, Grant has always had some of the best athletic teams in Oregon since the school opened in 1924. The football team has captured six state titles and has reached the playoffs for the past eight consecutive seasons. The soccer team won the state title in 2008 after reaching the championship game and getting runner-up in 2007. The baseball team has captured two states titles.
But over the years, competing against suburban schools has become tougher. Many of them have turf fields. Some even have complexes with multiple fields. Given Oregon’s bad weather, having turf translates to more practice time and better results at games. Some say it also decreases the chance of injuries, just like at many colleges and in the pros.
“It’s a safety issue,” said Principal Vivian Orlen. “What a disadvantage we are at not having an adequate field for our athletes and for the community group after hours. So now I want that turf really bad.”
When talk of getting turf fields first started, the idea stirred up an outcry from some of the neighbors living around Grant. Some complained that if Grant got turf fields and lights were installed, it would ruin their neighborhood and damage property values.
“The Grant neighbors didn’t want lights and the field because of continued and increased use,” said Jacqui Sage, the Grant athletic director. “It was just a few members of the Grant Park Neighborhood Association and they were pretty vocal about it.”
When Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish, who heads the Parks and Recreation department, got involved an agreement was reached and permission to move ahead with the turf project was finalized.
Since then, the “Friends” have spent years planning other events to raise more money. Special announcements have gone out to the community. It’s not uncommon at Grant games to see people handing out fliers asking for support. And whenever fans talk about their teams, the talk usually moves to the shoddy playing surfaces.
But so far, the talk has fallen short.
“It has just been frustrating going to fundraisers over the years and working with the district and they keep getting our hopes up and we keep getting shut down by the neighborhood and the construction process,” Sophie Montgomery, a senior Grant varsity soccer player said. “It’s disappointing that my senior class does not get it but hopefully they will get moving and other athletes will be able to play on the turf field next year.”
As turf fields continue to sprout up everywhere else – Roosevelt has one; Cleveland has one; Benson teamed with a local club soccer outfit and created a complex – Grant fields still lag behind.
And that doesn’t sit well with a number of Grant fans.
“There is no excuse for the athletes and community of Grant to have to put up with playing on these fields,” said Ward Duckworth, whose son Casey plays varsity soccer. “I feel sorry for the parents whose kids are going to attend Grant and are going to have to play on these fields.”
Patty Quenton’s son, Delaney, plays varsity football. She worries how the poor playing fields will affect people’s views of the Grant community.
“It’s humiliating, seeing other schools with their nice turf fields and then we have games at our school and people ask if that’s even qualifies as a field,” she said. “It would be nice if the city pitched in since it’s a city park.”
The biggest losers in this whole situation are the students of Grant.
“Kids lose out,” Duckworth said. “It is ridiculous that these fields have not been installed yet. The facilities we have now are absolutely horrific. It’s embarrassing, the administration should be completely embarrassed with the fields their students play on.”
