New athletic field provides schools with additional draw

St. John Paul II High School officials recently announced plans for a completely renovated track and field facility: the Bishop Edmond Carmody Field. The new facility will cost close to $1 million and is scheduled to be ready by July. It will serve athletes from both St. John Paul II High School and Bishop Garriga Middle Preparatory School.

Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic
 

Father Peter Martinez, president of St. John Paul II High School and Bishop Garriga Middle Preparatory School, says placing a priority on athletics is important because both schools will reach more students where they feel comfortable: playing sports.

 “A student might be interested in track, but once they are here, we hope to help them see the purpose of their life and get them prepared for life…not just this life, but the life to come. I really see all our extracurricular activities as being incarnational. With athletics, we reach students where they are, but then we invite them to be who they are called to be through spiritual formation and academic rigor; to get them ready for this life and the next,” Father Martinez said. 

Esquivel said there were a lot of bumps on the old track. When there was rain, the track and field would be in an even more terrible condition than usual. “I’m so excited to have a new track, especially for my senior year,” she said.

Marco Hernandez, track and field coach for St. John Paul High School, noted special thanks was in order to West Oso High School for the use of their track since 2010. “We appreciate their help and always tried our best to assist with cleaning up their track after practice or even just pulling weeds out of the sand,” Hernandez said.

School officials recently announced plans for a completely renovated track and field facility: the Bishop Edmond Carmody Field. The new facility will cost close to $1 million and is scheduled to be ready by July. It will serve athletes from both the high and middle schools.

“We are extremely blessed to finally move forward with this project. We’ve been wanting to replace this field for many years, but it has always been cost prohibitive,” Father Martinez said.

He said school officials had been speaking with a donor for some time about possible renovations, but new technology in track surfaces finally ushered the project into reality this year.

“Because of the clay soil we have out here, we have to be concerned about the type of track installed. Shifts in the soil affect the stability of the surface. Most synthetic tracks have a polyurethane bed, but this track we are installing is all synthetic grass, from the infield to the track itself,” he said.

Another major issue with the old facility was that with two schools using the field for a variety of sports, including football, track and soccer—both for competition and daily practice, the grass never really had a chance to grow.

With the field being in constant use, even if we had a fulltime maintenance person to keep up with the field, there was never anytime for the field to recover, Father Martinez said. The field had to be watered at least three times a week to keep the grass “somewhat decent.”

“Kids today, for the most part, because of all the new technology available now, are spending a lot of time indoors. We want our kids to go outside and have fun. There are some lessons only learned when you are in a team. You learn about adversity, about growing together, setting goals and achieving them,” Father Martinez said.

Coach Hernandez said the new track and field also means much needed new equipment and specialized facilities, including a high jump pit, hurdles, a discus cage, a pole vault pit and starting blocks.

“Our students have been going to state competition for track and field consistently since 2010. And that’s because we were using another high school’s track to practice. I can’t wait to see how our students will succeed with a new track on campus,” he said.

Father Martinez estimated that 80 percent of the students at each the high school and middle school participate in athletic activities. He added that the schools want students to participate in as many athletic activities as they can, while maintaining their academic standards.   

St. John Paul II High School and Bishop Garriga Middle Preparatory School and diocesan dignitaries gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Bishop Carmody Field that will serve both schools. Rebecca Esparza for South Texas Catholic