We are in the height of our spring sports season. If you take a walk around the beautiful Greenbrier Park after school, you will likely find the soccer team running laps across the turf and the baseball team warming up on the diamond. Music is often blasting and the sun is always shining. This scene truly captures the essence of high school sports. Yorktown is certainly privileged when it comes to the amount of funding and maintenance put into our fields sports facilities, but unfortunately most are unaware of the millions of dollars that the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) spends on Yorktown alone. DPR owns and manages Greenbrier Park, which consists of the synthetic track, the lighted basketball court, the tennis courts, the three diamond fields and the synthetic rectangular multi-use field. Without them, Yorktown sports would not be nearly as successful as they are today.

When asked about the relationship between our school and DPR, Director of Student Activities Michael Krewfield said, “The reality is that we benefit significantly from our fields being owned by the Department of Parks and Recreation. If the school owned them, there is no way they could allocate that much money towards sports,”

John Winkle, the Athletic Field Maintenance Manager of DPR, explained more in depth the role the department plays in making sure our fields are up to par. He was able to provide insight on how and why the fields are currently managed the way they are.

“The three diamond fields and the synthetic turf stadium field are all heavily used and, as such, require extensive maintenance that includes nutrient management, irrigation, topdressing, aeration, seeding and new infield mix.  Unfortunately, our budget limitations do not allow us to maintain every field in our system to the highest appropriate standard,” said Winkle.

DPR is in charge of preparing and taking care of the school’s fields. A large amount of staff members’ time and effort is spent tediously making sure that our sports teams have a quality environment to practice. The department has four two man crews that are each responsible for roughly 25 fields in the area they are assigned to. Greenbrier is a heavily used complex, so the crew usually spends three hours per day there Monday through Friday, eight months out of the year.

A few points of controversy have come up over the past few years, as some athletes and coaches wish for modifications in how the fields and courts are regulated. Many have complained about the quality of the fields and about how strict the handling rules seem to be. Since all of Greenbrier Park is the property of DPR, all decisions and changes made are ultimately their call.

“The challenge we face is that the quality of the fields that Parks and Recreation needs for youth sports is different that the quality of the fields that the high schools would like,” Krewfield said. “We are limited in some of the things we do. For example, we can’t just go out there and put a new infield in, put a batter’s eye up or decide what’s going to be on the new turf–that has to be done in partnership with Parks and Recreation.”

However, this is not to say that athletes should lose hope, because DPR is very aware of the existing issues, and has been in discussion with Yorktown over the past few years over how to effectively maintain the sports facilities at a high school level. In fact, at a recent press conference, the Arlington County Board approved a contract for $674,000 to renovate the rectangular field at Greenbrier Park.

In the press release, they have disclosed the following details: “The project includes replacing the synthetic turf surfacing, infill and inlaid game field markings, as well as corner flags and the combination football/soccer goals. Necessary repairs will also be made to the field base as well as the existing aggregate layer and drainage system.”

This is big news; athletes and coaches should start getting excited. It is estimated that the much needed make-over will be completed and ready for use by August 2016, .

While the current athletic facility situation may not be absolutely perfect, it is pretty darn close, and big changes are to come. DPR is commendable for the energy they put into helping Yorktown sports function to their fullest potential. Aside from their work with Arlington Public Schools, DPR is also the backbone of all the superb parks, trails, nature centers and many more facilities that make Arlington such a wonderful place to live. They are always looking for volunteers who are interested in bettering the Arlington community. Check out their website (http://parks.arlingtonva.us/) for more details.