Friday night football games, PE classes on the field, middle schoolers running the Heavenly 11 on the track: these and other old traditions can be brought back now that the renovation of Witter Field has been completed.
On Aug. 9, Witter Field was completed and opened to the public after nearly two years of planning and construction. Facilities included in the renovation were the turf field, the track, the weight room, and the parking lot.
Director of Facilities and Construction Manager Pete Palmer said that even though the field was completed and ready for use the first week of February, the opening of the whole facility had to be postponed to August due to issues with drainage systems and crumbly foundational surfaces that slowed construction.
On Aug. 14 a public ceremony was held to officially reopen Witter Field.
The opening of Witter has been particularly beneficial to athletes.
“We get to have home games, we don’t need to practice on the baseball field, and there’s certain equipment, like the sled, that we can use to get better,” said varsity tackle football player junior Adrian Kondakov.
The flag football team said that using Witter, specifically the hash marks and boundary lines, has strengthened their training by allowing them to practice specific playsets and routes.
“Having Witter is instrumental to both of the football team’s programs because it is knowledge,” said flag football coach Hayley Adams.
Flag football is a new program, being introduced just last year, so playing on the finished Witter field has allowed players to feel more like a varsity-level football program with the necessary facilities to play at a high level.
“We were split between Havens [Field], being like little kids on a little kid field, and playing in a grassy [baseball] field with holes and lines that weren’t right,” Adams said. “Many of the girls last year didn’t see themselves as football players until we went to other teams’ home fields under the lights, so it was really important for us [coaches] that once Witter opened and they put our lines in that the girls would feel like they are part of a real football team.”
The opening of Witter will also impact PE classes at both the high school and middle school.
“It’s a nice, dedicated space that can be used throughout the day for the high schoolers and middle schoolers for their various PE activities,” Small said.
PE Department Chair Jeff Peters said that now that Witter is back open, PE classes can participate more consistently in outdoor units such as football.
Peters said that he can also have his students run laps around the track for cardio instead of running sprints up PE hill.
The opening of the Witter weight room has had a greater impact on Peters’ weight training classes.
“[Last year] we only got to use the PE weight room and machines are very different,” Peters said. “Having Witter is awesome for my weight training class because last year we didn’t even have it for the first semester.”
The completion of Witter also impacts the greater Piedmont community.
“[Witter] is such a big draw for the community – it’s a place to run, a place to walk, so it’s nice to have that back open and see everyone back out there,” said Athletic Director Tyler Small.
Witter is also very important for cultivating school spirit and a close-knit community.
“[It’s exciting] to be able to host home events and just see the community come together and just support the student-athletes and make it a community event,” Small said.
