With the girls’ soccer season starting in March and the team currently in pre-season practice, the questions surrounding the quality of the soccer field arise again.

The soccer field, which is across the street and adjacent to the Jackson Park Elementary School playground and faculty parking lot, barely passes size requirements set by MSHSAA, has uneven grass and is used by other school sports teams. However, the girls’ soccer team didn’t always practice and play on the current field.

“Before I started coaching, the soccer teams used to play on the football field,” said girls’ soccer coach Mr. Brooks. “However, it was too narrow. When I first started coaching, the girls were at Jackson Park and the boys were at Heman Park. Then the soccer team played at the stadium, but due to concerns from other schools as well as our own concerns, the soccer team moved off of that field.”

Mr. Hill, athletic director, explained that the changing of the fields throughout previous years was because of an issue with MSHSAA, the Missouri State High School Activities Association.

“They were originally on the football field, but with MSHSAA the field has to be a certain size, and I don’t think the current one meets requirements,” said Hill.

While the current field is within the requirements, its length borders on qualification.

“A soccer field has a minimum dimension of being 100×55 yards and a maximum of 120×80 yards,” said Brooks. “Our field is small due to the track team’s pits and the widest they have our field at is around 56 yards, which is around the bare minimum. If those pits were moved then it would be a wider field.”

Another issue concerning the current state of the field is the amount of people using it.
“Jackson Field is fine, but some people bring their dogs or play golf on it,” said Brooks. “The track team uses it for their field events with the pit; kids from Jackson Park use it and the football teams use it to practice.”

Hill recognized the fact the field isn’t used exclusively by the soccer team.

“The soccer and football teams share that field,” said Hill. “The football team doesn’t practice on the football field because they play about 12 home games between the freshman, junior varsity, and varsity teams, which does enough damage to the field. They practice there once a week or so. If they practiced there daily the field wouldn’t make it through the duration of the season.”

However, soccer player Kara Richardson, junior, doesn’t feel that the teams truly share the field.
“To be honest, the football team probably uses the field more than we do,” said Richardson. “They never use it for games, but they practice on it all the time. They can’t stand to just have one field, so they use both.”

The heavy use of the field perhaps contributes to the quality of the field, which soccer players have complained about.

“The grass is extremely uneven,” said sophomore soccer player Yasmeen Coby. “I remember there being patches of dirt, which is hard to kick on. They need to cut the grass.”

According to Hill, the field is well-kept.

“The field is groomed. I’ve sent schedules to the people at operation and maintenance, who are responsible for our fields for whenever we have a soccer game to make sure the field is cut and ready,” said Hill.

However, Hill acknowledges there are unconfirmed plans to renovate the current field.

“Our hope is that we get new field turf with the proper measurements to be used by the field hockey, football, and soccer teams,” said Hill. “The weather wouldn’t be an issue and it would bring in more money with revenue to the school because people could rent it. However, it isn’t official and no one has confirmed it.”

While that renovation plan isn’t official, Richardson isn’t in favor of getting a turf field.
“I’d take our field over turf any day,” said Richardson.

Regardless of how the field is renovated, the soccer team agrees that the field needs to be changed.
“The field is not that bad, but I do think that it could be better,” said Coby.