For many years, the soccer fields have been in an unusable state, even being considered a danger to players. Coach Jason Berg explained, “Field conditions pertaining to injuries- lack of grass as a player may fall or get hit to the ground with no cushion for the fall, uneven ground creating twisted ankles and knee injuries, hard surfaces creating shin splints and lagging injuries.”

Now, instead of using the fields, some of the teams have decided to get off campus fields. Coach John Roberts stated, “Coach Berg’s boys team is the team that is going to be utilizing off-campus fields.” The team is able to utilize these fields for free because the “field space is being donated by one of our parents for use,” Berg says. The fields will be a drive for the players being 12 minutes away from Perry on Power and Elliot road, but tryouts will still be held at Perry.

“The idea came from our lack of space, with an overlap with Fall Sports and Winter Sports, specifically football,” Berg continued, “During the season, we are limited to the practice field behind baseball and the PIT, the other field space isn’t safe.” The safety of the players was the major reason the idea had come to mind.

Reseeding the fields has not happened for soccer in recent years, and while winter sports are postponed reseeding is out of the question. “Reseeding the fields is not allowed according to the district maintenance office,” athletic director Jennifer Burks stated. Berg added on to the statement, “The issue with overseeding is needing 2 weeks off of the field, no use at all.  That hurts everyone involved.”

No one is certain when or if the field situation will be fixed, so for now driving 12 minutes is the best that can be done to make practice possible.