Girl’s soccer, boy’s soccer, field hockey, football. Repeat, repeat, repeat. As the leaves change, so do the sports seasons, coming with the same complications. Track teams, boy’s lacrosse, girl’s lacrosse. A constant struggle for turf time and home games. With just one field for all these sports, scheduling practices and games becomes very difficult, forcing everybody to sacrifice their time and patience. Fortunately, there are many positive aspects to the condensed space.
The problem boils down to the fact that LM has too many teams for just one home field to be a sustainable solution. Both the spring and fall sports seasons have at least four varsity teams that play on Arnold Field. All of them have to fit in their practices and games before the sun sets. The infamous “No Lights on Arnold Field” campaign hinders our schools ability to host night games or even later practices as the sun begins to set earlier.
Due to how cramped turf time already is, junior varsity teams are pushed aside. This becomes a major issue because the grass on Arnold Field isn’t well kept or even a viable option to play on. JV field hockey consistently had home games on the bumpy grass, rendering passes and other skills to the sport impossible in addition to increasing the risk of injury. Nina Abdullah ’28 described the difficulties, saying, “Sometimes it was harder to be on the grass, especially when it was dead and dry, because it isn’t taken care of.” She also admitted that she “played better” on the occasional turf games.
Conditions don’t improve in the spring for lacrosse season. Kate Christini ’28, a swing player, gets to experience both areas. She explained that she prefers turf because “the grass fields are very dangerous and not kept up well. There’s a high risk for sprained ankles and it’s not good on the player’s knees due to the high concentration of dirt.” This isn’t a problem that many other schools in the Central League experience. We are putting our JV teams at a disadvantage while risking their own safety.
Since there are so many teams, practice times also become complicated. Most days, one team will have the turf during the first time slot immediately after school, and another will have it afterwards. This creates problems for the athletes on the second team. Staying after school to wait for practice cuts into time to get schoolwork done, as well as their social life and additional sports commitments. Time slots can be done on a rotating schedule, like how softball and baseball swap who gets Downs Gym first on days when South Ardmore Park fields are closed. However, in the case of lacrosse, the boys teams always get turf first, leaving the girls teams to wait around the building or go home for a short amount of time.
Sometimes, such as during summer preseason, teams will split the turf. A decision with its benefits, both teams can play at once, even if it’s within the limited space. One athlete likes this divided field, describing how it improves the connection between the teams. Varsity and JV field hockey have a joint practice on those instances, and Jolin Qiu ’28 says, “We do more fun activities and do more team bonding when we’re all together.”
Connection is the main benefit of our single turf and compact fields. Proximity to other sports practices and games unifies LM’s athletics. One turf field means that you’ll often catch the end or beginning of a game you didn’t play in or come to watch. It also means that JV can watch varsity play and vice versa, bonding and strengthening team and athlete connections.
Arnold Field is a place filled with good memories, fun times, and hard fought battles. But it’s not without its flaws. LM’s single turf can lead to delays in practice, and forces teams away to the bumpy and difficult grass field. The significant advantage to the design is how it encourages connection and support for other LM teams. Some solutions, such as improving the quality of grass or even installing lights or another turf could make Arnold Field a complete and well-equipped home environment for all athletes. Despite everything, a home field carries a special place in our athletics’ culture. There’s been many Aces victories on the turf, and a fair share of losses too, all of which bonded athletes. Above all, there are many more games left to play and many more memories to be made.
