STLCC Coaches and players discuss field conditions
BY: RICKY MEHRLE & ZACH EDGAR
Staff
Over the past three years, STLCC has seen many updates to its Meramec campus. Aside from buildings, the sports fields haven’t been much of a priority to the STLCC Transformed project.
Meramec’s campus has three outdoor fields: soccer, baseball and softball, and these fields have been through a lot.
“For what it is, it’s in good shape. The playing surface is good. We spend a lot of time on it. We do a lot of the day-to-day work on it; our grounds crew does a great job of prepping the field for us when we play,” said Head Baseball Coach Scott Goodrich.
The fields are always in use, so many don’t notice the negatives. Soccer player Joao Victor Gonzaga Ribeiro expressed his opinion on the current soccer field conditions.
“The field is not the worst I’ve seen, but it can be better. I don’t know if the drain is too good. Sometimes the field can be too wet, and the grass is too high. In some places, it’s high, and others it’s good,” Gonzaga Ribeiro said.
With the new updates on campus, the fields are now in need of improvements according to Goodrich.
“Well, I mean, if you look around the landscape of college athletics right now, when you talk about fielding improvements at the baseball level, you’re really looking at turf fields, and I think a turf facility for us would really change the way we’re able to do things,” Goodrich said. “We’d be a lot more efficient in the things we’re able to do during practice. It would allow us to play more home games; it would add a dimension of a modern look on the campus as well.”
With weather in the Midwest, rain and snow makes it hard for players to get outside on their fields to practice, and this is a struggle when it comes to major games.
“If we have a good field, we would have a higher intensity level. We would be able to make some plays, like set pieces, that we are not able to here,” said Gonzaga Ribeiro.
Attendance at their games is another thing on players’ minds.
“I think we could have more people watch. With more spectators, we have more energy to play. Sometimes we suffer a goal, and the spectators start making noise, we can come back on the game easily,” Gonzaga Ribeiro said.
When it comes to the soccer and baseball field, there isn’t much seating – especially on the soccer field – so that affects attendance, along with weather.
“When we play in the middle of March on a Tuesday, it’s harder to get people out,” Goodrich said. “I think if you come out here and watch us play home games in April on Saturdays, or May on Saturdays, when the sun’s out and it’s warm, just seeing a bit more people that we have in our facility adds an element to the game that really feels a little bigger than it is.”
When it comes to updating fields, the coaches benefit more from these renovations than the players do since they come and go each year.
“Well, I’m a coach, so of course sports fields should be getting more funds. I understand that the situation is what it is, especially since times have been tough coming out of covid. It’s never been an ideal situation that every coach across the country wants better facilities, wants facility upgrades, so anything we can get that can help us out in that aspect would be much appreciated,” Goodrich said.
