New playing fields built to the south

By Andy Colbert '01

For the past three months, crews from all over the east coast have been battling the mud, rain, heat, and wind to laser-bevel four soccer and lacrosse fields, a process that ensures a flat field.

Under the supervision of Brett Gewanter, supervisor of building and grounds, H.C. Kocot & Son was contracted to excavate the 15-acre area in early June.

With two-to-seven men on the job and a total of four bulldozers they leveled and packed the soil in layers of six to twelve inches while creating titanic piles of dirt.

Then a trench two-to-four feet deep was dug along the perimeter of the four fields to allow for irrigation pipes and electric cables, which were connected underground to a control system on the lower level fields. Lisco Irrigation Systems was hired to place a state of the art underground sprinkler system under all four fields that could be controlled by the click of a mouse in Mr. Gewanter's office.

Two miles of electric cable and more than ten thousand feet of irrigation piping were laid under the fields. At full capacity the 125 sprinklers can disperse 77,000 gallons of water.

Deerfield also recently installed a new electric pump to use river water as the source for all its irrigation needs. This pump will be fully compatible with the new field's system. Lisco irrigation is currently working on a contract to irrigate the new Patriots' stadium in Foxboro and hopes to continue working with Deerfield in the future.

At press time, Lisco was about to finish installing the last pipes and the grounds crew expected to plant 3,000 pounds of blue grass seed in a matter of days. When completed, the new fields will be wired for scoreboards and feature a half-acre parking lot connected to Mill Village Road. One Lisco worker speculated that these will be the flattest and most efficient playing fields in the prep school circuit.

As published in the September 9, 2000 issue of the Deerfield Scroll, the monthly newspaper of Deerfield Academy.