New turf field installed at Rigby High School thanks to community donations - East Idaho News
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New turf field installed at Rigby High School thanks to community donations

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RIGBY — After sports players have used the same grassy field for more than 30 years at Rigby High School, they now have a new turf field thanks to donations from the community.

“I can’t say enough about how excited (we are)! I mean, the kids, when they first walked out (on it), they were touching it. They were just noticing the difference. That was huge for them. It also gives them a little sense of pride having this nice new turf,” said Bryan Lords, principal at Rigby High School.

Lords said Jefferson School District and Rigby High School funded none of the project and it all came from the community.

He said the original grass field had been around since 1988.

Lords explained there was no immediate need for improvements on the field because the grass is still considered in good shape. Getting a new field would have most likely come up on an agenda in the next five or ten years; however, the new turf field is welcomed by everyone.

Carl Hooper, a varsity football coach at Rigby High School, was born and raised in Rigby. He played football on the grass field and felt there needed to be a change to the field after observing it.

Carl and football players
Carl Hooper with some of his football players. | Courtesy Carl Hooper

“I’ve played on it and watched a lot of games on it and saw kind of the decline and the necessary need for upgrades. So, I took it upon myself and some others associated with the football program to get it (upgrades) done,” Hooper said.

Hooper began to get funding and help from the community about two years ago and called it the “stadium improvement project.” It started off slowly but quickly gained momentum this year when everything started to come together. He applied for a grant from the Community Sports Development Alliance.

“They help provide assistance for rural or inner-city schools and options for putting in turf fields,” Hooper said. “They cover between 65 and 70 percent of the overall cost of the turf field.”

Other businesses that donated include Woody Smith Automotive Group, Westmark Credit Union and Broulim’s.

donations
The donor list. | Courtesy Facebook

“Hundreds and hundreds of hours were put in by myself and others and tens of thousands of my own dollars donated to it through my companies (like Performance Fencing) and to be able to see the boys out on it and be able to enjoy it, obviously, it’s amazing,” Hooper said.

This summer, the installation of the field happened and the football players have been able to use it. They began practice last week.

“It’s awesome. It is a surface for the boys that’s consistent compared to grass fields with humps and dips and all those things that happen with natural fields,” he said.

Lords said it is a big difference to have an artificial turf field compared to a grass field. There were two issues that they would run into with sports.

“Most of September, all the way through October, the middle of our field turns to mud because there’s so much use. Being able to have the turf here, we don’t have that issue,” Lords explained.

He said another issue was watering the field.

“We water using ditches and canals for our fields, so when those run out in the late fall, we aren’t able to water near as much because it costs a ton of money to use the city water. Once the water is gone out of the canals and ditches, we just quit watering. Our fields are hard,” he said.

Lords emphasized that the turf field isn’t just for the football program, it’s also for the track team and boys and girls soccer. It’s a full athletic program upgrade for the Rigby Trojans.

“Overall dollar amount that we raised was $1.7 million in order to get this project done,” Hooper told EastIdahoNews.com.

Westmark Credit Union additionally donated a scoreboard. One last project Hooper said is being worked on is installing a new press box, which will be sometime in September.

scoreboard
The donated scoreboard. | Courtesy Carl Hooper
old grass field
The previous grass field at Rigby High School. | Courtesy Clint Hooper

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