Arriving at Russell Street Field on Sept. 16, we watched with interest as a young man set up electronic equipment on the brand-new surface of the soccer field. Our first thought was that he was preparing to broadcast via satellite the news about the newly renovated field to some distant land — perhaps Belgium, which got us thinking about french fries with mayonnaise.
But then we spoke to the man, whose name is Corbin Cleary and who is a field technician for Firefly Sports Testing, of Hookset, N.H. He explained that he was engaged in one of the final steps in the summer-long installation of the new FieldTurf playing surface: ensuring that the turf, a product called CORE, meets standards that pertain to the experience of the student athletes who use it.
For example, as Cleary explained, one of the factors he’d be measuring was the “Gmax” — the turf’s shock-absorbing properties, determined by dropping a test object at different points on the soccer field. (“Gmax” refers to the peak of deceleration during impact.) Other measurements included the planarity of the surface — its flatness — and the stability of the turf.
Corbin Cleary, a field technician for Firefly Sports Testing, sets up equipment on the new turf at Russell Street Field. Firefly collects turf performance data for manufacturer FieldTurf. (Doug Hubley/Bates College)
Complete except for final tests and a few punch list items: the new FieldTurf on the Russell Street soccer field on Sept. 16. (Doug Hubley/Bates College)
Looking northwest across the newly resurfaced soccer field at Bates’ Russell Street sports complex. (Doug Hubley/Bates College)
The brand-new FieldTurf playing surface for soccer and other sports at Russell Street Field. (Doug Hubley/Bates College)
To the left of the white curb at Russell Street Field is the brand-new FieldTurf soccer pitch, and at right is the Mondo track surface installed in 2022. (Doug Hubley/Bates College)
Site work is underway for a new javelin runway at this site east of the softball field. (Doug Hubley/Bates College)
A rigger, at left, and other workers observe on Sept. 5 as a Cote Corp. crane places one of four new field lights at Russell Street Field. The lighting work was part of a summer renovation of the field. (Theophil Syslo/Bates College)
The business end of a new Musco field light array at Russell Street Field. Four such arrays were installed in early September. (Theophil Syslo/Bates College)
Testing the new Musco field lights at Russell Street Field on Sept. 18. (Paul Farnsworth/Bates College)
And the new turf passed all the tests, meaning that the soccer field is ready for games to begin. The first post-renovation contest is set for Sept. 23, a women’s soccer match against Maine Maritime Academy. The Back to Bates festivity will feature two games — not to mention the rededication of the Russell Street athletic complex — on Sept. 28.
However, and as usual, there were a few punch-list items to be addressed in the coming days. One final chore is depending on the weather. Seeding new grass in freshly landscaped areas will have to wait for a rainy spell that, at this writing, is nowhere in sight. And other work at the field unrelated to the soccer pitch will continue a little longer, as we’ll explain shortly.
Overall, after a delayed start caused by an overburdened state environmental permitting process, the soccer field makeover “has been great,” says Paul Farnsworth, Bates project manager for the field work. “We haven’t had any hiccups. Everyone showed up and did what they said they’d do.”
Meanwhile, beyond the new soccer turf and the track that encircles it (itself resurfaced two years ago), subsidiary projects are in their final days. Early in the summer, for the FieldTurf work, a temporary driveway for heavy machinery was opened from Lafayette Street, and that area is being restored to its former appearance.
More impressively, a large and neatly contoured trench has been dug between the softball field and the Cutten Maintenance Center, and that will become a “rain garden” — a plant-filled drainage structure designed to keep stormwater running off the softball field from overwhelming nearby Jepson Brook.
In the grassy areas surrounding the softball field, more athletic facilities are being completed. To the south, near St. Mary’s Health System property, concrete has been placed to serve as the new and improved launch pad for hammer and discus throwing. Nearby, new batting cages are being built. Around the corner of the ballfield, parallel to Lafayette Street, what on Sept. 16 appeared to be a gravel road will soon become the college’s new runway for steel-tipped javelin throwing.
And the softball field itself will be refreshed with a smoothed playing surface — living grass and dirt this time — as well as newly painted dugouts and new safety fencing protecting the dugouts.
Dreams of field: The end of summer usually brings the end of outdoor construction at Bates, but 2024 is an exception. As the Russell Street Field work is wrapping up, general contractor Shaw Brothers and Bates project manager Paul Farnsworth will head a half-mile west to launch a similar undertaking — replacing the entire soil-and-grass infield at the college’s baseball facility.
Field turf manufacturer FieldTurf, too, is again involved, this time supplying a product from its DoublePlay line, designed specifically for baseball. That’s because the dirt of Leahey Field is rich in marine clay, and thus in the attendant twin delights of poor drainage and soil consistency that’s ceramic-hard when dry and mucky when saturated.
“It’s really about the student experience,” says Chris Streifel, Bates’ director of capital planning and construction. Rainy weather leaves the “clay a soggy, sloppy, unplayable mess” that in extreme cases has caused games to be “canceled or relocated to fields at other institutions.”
The Leahey Field makeover is expected to be completed by the end of November, leaving the field ready for play in the spring.
Can we talk? Campus Construction Update loves to hear from you. Please send questions, comments, and reminiscences about construction at Bates College to dhubley@bates.edu, with “Campus Construction” or “Can’t you just boil the potatoes in mayonnaise?” in the subject line.
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