Sports

day practices. The field hockey team’s use of The New England Baseball Complex’s turf facility costs approximately $9,000 a season and is covered by the athletic department and the team’s booster association. Other teams use turf on a per diem basis when necessary due to inclement weather or poor field conditions.

And as many surrounding schools have already made the switch from grass to turf, athletes see the Gonkplex as a way to keep up with competi- tion. ARHS is only one of three Midland Wachusett league teams that does not have a turf field.

“When you practice on grass fields and perform on turf fields, it’s very different,” senior Katie Cullen said, a member of the Athletic Complex Project Committee and girls’ varsity soccer and lacrosse teams.

Former coach and athletic director Richard Walsh, the namesake for the varsity field, also views the turf field as a priority.

“A lot of these schools that we play against, compete against, have upgraded their fields over a period of years,” Walsh said. “You can also play on turf fields in the bad weather, maybe the rainy weather, rather than postponing and going back to doing it on your grass field.”

In addition, without a turf field, ARHS is currently unable to host MIAA tournament games for most fall or spring field sports.

Surrounding the varsity field is Algonquin’s track. Originally laid out in 1994, it is well past a track’s typical 18 year life span. With the deteriorating state the track is in today, Algonquin has not met the MIAA standards in order to host events for the spring track season.

“[With an updated track,] I think we will now have the ability to host MIAA sporting events as well,” Athletic Director Mike Mocerino said. “We don’t [currently] have the ability to hold our track events, but we will now have the ability to hold track meets. I just think that this will give us the ability to host bigger events than right now.”

Although the majority of the Gonkplex elements directly benefit athletes, interests outside of sports were also taken into consideration. Part of the plans include an amphitheater that would be used for musical performances and student artwork displays.

“There’s an amphitheater there that I’m really hopeful for because I think it’s a nice addition to the facility,” Bevan said. “That wouldn’t be a huge added cost, but we would get a lot of usage out of it.”

Steps moving forward

Initial discussion surrounding the updated athletic complex began in 2013, but the Athletic Complex Project Committee, made up of 17 members including student-athletes, coaches, administration and community members, has set the project into motion during the past year.

“The planning stages have gone pretty smoothly,” Bevan said. “This has been, for many years, just in conversation, but it’s never actually progressed as far along to the stage as it is now…A lot of the planning, and the identification of what the needs are, and the working with the engineering firm to develop a plan that looks like it would meet all those needs, those steps have all occurred.”

The committee is at a point where the future of the Gonkplex will be determined by the votes from the community, with newly-launched Instagram and Twitter pages promoting the project.

The initiation of construction will be decided at the spring town meetings for Northborough and Southborough, in April and March, respectively. The committee estimates that the cost per year per household will be approximately $85 to $90.

“We’re going to need the community’s full support on this,” Cahill said. “We will need the full support of people who live in Northborough and Southborough.”