Leroy Boyer (sports editor)
republicanherald.com
Earlier this month, Olympic athletes, movie stars and television personalities descended on the Hamburg area.
More than a hundred volunteers from several counties contributed, crowds of 4,500 people per day appeared and roads were shut down as Trisha Urban's Tilden Township home was rebuilt.
For the Hamburg Area sports fans, however, the extreme makeover was nearing its completion about two miles east on the Hex Highway.
This wasn't "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
This was "Extreme Makeover: Stadium Edition."
Similar to what occurred at Urban's home, the Hamburg Area School District tore up its sports stadium and rebuilt it as part of a two-phase, $3.7 million project.
A new field house, bleachers and press box were part of Phase I of the project, which was completed two years ago and cost $1.8 million.
As the 2010 fall sports season approaches, Phase II of the project is nearing completion.
The installation of a FieldTurf Classic artificial playing surface and a Beynon BS 300 eight-lane, all-weather track at Hamburg Area Stadium are the highlights of Phase II, which cost $1.9 million.
The second stage of the project began about this time last year. Hamburg brought in various synthetic turf companies to demonstrate their products in front of a committee that included Brian Specht, Charles Sonday, Duane Crider, Stan Snyder and Menapace.
The committee also went out and toured other facilities that have artificial turf fields, visiting "10-15 different places," according to Menapace.
"When those companies came in, we looked at what they had to offer, not just in terms of product, but after-installation service," Menapace said. "What the warranty was like, expected lifespan, reputation. We limited it to four of those companies that we took a bid on for the project."
The final four included FieldTurf, Sportexe, Astro Turf and A-Turf. FieldTurf, considered the most expensive and best quality product of the four, emerged as the winner after submitting the lowest bid.
Governor Mifflin and Oley Valley have stadiums with FieldTurf surfaces using older technology, while Daniel Boone is currently installing a similar FieldTurf surface to its stadium.
Schuylkill Haven's Rotary Field was equipped with a Sportexe Omnigrass artificial surface in 2006.
"FieldTurf typically costs $100,000 more," Menapace said. "But they came in on this overall project as the low bid, which was good for us because we got the highest quality at the lowest price."
Construction began at the end of the 2009-10 school year and was completed Aug. 7. Hamburg made its stadium field surface 95 yards wide to give its fall sports - football, boys' and girls' soccer and field hockey - plenty of space to work with.
The soccer field is lined at the maximum width - 75 yards - allowed by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association and National Federation of State High School Associations, while field hockey is lined at 60 feet and football at 53 and one-third feet.
The school extended the surface 10 yards beyond those boundaries, and added team boxes on the visitor's side for soccer and field hockey.
"I can put my soccer team on this side, my field hockey team on the other side, and they can practice across the field at the same time and have almost a full regulation width field," Menapace said.
"We think our facility is going to be a pretty good facility."
The big winner in the makeover of Hamburg Area Stadium is field hockey, especially from a competition standpoint. In fact, the Hamburg Area School District has already been asked by the PIAA to submit a bid to host the 2014 PIAA Field Hockey Championships.
"The sport of field hockey, schools with natural grass are behind the eight-ball because every single playoff game in District 3 is played on synthetic surface," Menapace explained. "When you talk about the three sports, football, soccer and field hockey, the one that is the biggest difference going from grass to turf is field hockey.
"If your kids aren't playing on a synthetic field, they're at a competitive disadvantage without question when they get onto a synthetic field and play against a team that has been playing on it. The game is so much faster. The schemes and strategies are so different because the ball can roll quicker and you can hit it farther sooner."
Another benefit of the wide surface is the PIAA's decision to move girls' soccer to the fall. In District 3, that change comes in 2012. With the wide synthetic field, and the abundance of other nearby grass fields to utilize, Hamburg is ahead of the curve when it comes to finding practice time for all of its fall sports.
"When soccer goes to the fall in 2012 in District 3, this will really help our soccer programs," Menapace said. "The boys and girls can practice at same time.
"Half or more of the school districts in our area of District 3 are struggling to come up with an answer when girls' soccer goes to the fall to accommodate all the teams right after school and get them practice space. We've answered it with this project. We're ahead of that curve, so to speak."
Baseball Field
Hamburg's baseball field, named after former educator Charles L. Miller, was in dire need of repair.
Both the infield and outfield was lumpy and uneven, and school district officials were afraid someone was going to get hurt if something wasn't done to improve the situation.
Originally, the school district put together a proposal to blow up the field and replace it with natural grass. The proposal had an irrigation plan in it and an extensive drainage process.
But when the bids came in for this project, they were all well above what Hamburg wanted to spend.
They rejected all of the bids, and began to look at other options.
"When we started (on the stadium project), it was the tail end of the grass proposal (at the baseball field)," Menapace said. "In the dog and pony shows with all these companies, we said 'What if we turf the baseball field along with this?' Everybody was mobilized already, and the company was already here doing this project.
"It cost us about the same amount of money to put turf on this field as it would have to put grass down. We found out for about the same money, we could make this synthetic turf as opposed to natural grass. When you start to calculate the man hours your people put in to edge, groom and get a baseball field ready, this is like plug and play.
"This turned out to be a real blessing."
The baseball field will have a synthetic surface on the entire infield, with the exception of the pitcher's mound and home plate area. The baselines are a different color turf, and the outfield will be natural grass.
The stadium portion of Phase II is complete with the exception of landscaping on the bank behind the home bleachers. The football team will christen it today when the Hawks scrimmage Tamaqua at 10 a.m.
The baseball field still needs the sod installed in the outfield, which will be done in mid-September. Bleachers will be installed behind home plate, with more seating down the right-field line. A bullpen will be constructed down the left-field line, with a batting cage erected behind the home-plate bleachers.
Overall, Hamburg's "Extreme Makeover" is an impressive display.
"I'm still pinching myself. I'm not certain it's all for real," Menapace said.
"When you look at our indoor and outdoor facilities, somebody may have a better gym. Somebody may have a better this or that. But I think overall, there's nobody that has a better athletic complex right on their campus than we do."
