Anyone who's played high school sports on Saratoga Springs' high school fields knows they can wear down pretty quickly. It appears there's a group of people plan to do something about it. The group has 174 likes on Facebook. I'll follow up on this story later in the month:

SARATOGA SPRINGS >> “Build it and he will come.” This famous line from the Kevin Costner movie, Field of Dreams, about an Iowa corn farmer who builds a baseball field on his farm, is the inspiration behind a new project to “rebuild” the fields at Saratoga Springs High School. The Toga Fields of Dreams project is a grassroots fundraising campaign created to raise money for a state of the art sprinkler system to irrigate the athletic fields at the Saratoga Springs High School. The project will be funded in several phases, with the first phase commencing this fall for the girls' Varsity field hockey, lacrosse, soccer and softball fields.

Over the years, several of the varsity fields have deteriorated, for a number of reasons, to the point that some of the  varsity teams have been forced to play and practice offsite.  Parents, coaches and student athletes were not happy about this and met with school officials to determine what needed to be done to fix the fields so that teams could play on them. The answer was complicated, yet simple. They needed water.

“We started out as a small group of concerned parents,” said Ralph Petruzzo, one of the group’s organizers, and then word got out and more and more people wanted to get involved. We are now working together with the school’s administration to put an irrigation plan in place that will eventually make Saratoga’s fields the envy of the capital region.  ‘Build it and they can play’ is everyone’s goal for this project.”

In addition to the newly formed parent’s group, members of the school’s administration have been instrumental in making this project a priority. “I have been so impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of those involved with this project”, said Peter Sheehan, Saratoga Springs High School Athletic Director.  “It is great to see our different Booster Clubs come together and work with the administration to the benefit of our student-athletes.

When completed the plan will involve:

·        Irrigating almost 22 acres of land
·        Installing 5 miles of pipe that runs the length of the football field 90 times
·        Creating 87 separate watering zones
·        Eliminating water waste by creating a much more efficient system

The project will be done over time and financed once funds are raised. Phase I is starting now, before the weather turns, and their goal is to raise $25,000 in the next few months. The fundraising committee is reaching out to all members of the community, including local businesses, to contribute whatever they can to help them reach their goal.

People can go to http://www.gofundme.com/togafieldsofdreams to make donations. Their progress can also be followed on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/togafieldsofdreams.