Build it, and they will come.
Unlike W.P. Kinsella’s Field of Dreams carved into an Iowa corn field, Cochrane’s artificial all-weather playing surface is taking root beside a high school. And the field is for football, rugby and soccer – not baseball.
Count Cochrane’s Rob Cote as one of the first to attend. The Calgary Stampeders fullback has spent the last three weeks practising and playing at McMahon Stadium on the same FieldTurf Revolution surface slated for installation beside Bow Valley High School. The playing field is comprised of a grass-like monofilament fiber surface with rubber pellets suspended in it. Silica sand and more rubber particles are distributed in layers underneath.
“It’s amazing. We never had anything like that. In the winter games, you are used to playing in your sneakers because the ground is frozen,” the Canadian Football League veteran recalled of his days as a Cochrane High School Cobra. “Now these guys will be able to have a good surface where they can get some traction. I think it’s a great thing for the town and a great thing for the kids.”
Along with a 65 x 143-metre (100,000 sq ft) all-weather outdoor playing surface suitable for football, rugby and soccer, the facility includes seating for 500 spectators and field lighting for night-time games and practices. Cochrane Lions Minor Football is holding its Turf Gala fundraiser June 21 at Cochrane Toyota, 6 p.m. kickoff.
The marquee fundraising push, to get the facility completed in time for it’s scheduled autumn opening, aims to raise more than $500,000 to round out the $1.6 million required for the project. Cote, Stamps quarterback Drew Tate, head coach John Hufnagel and club president Gordon Norrie headline the June 21 event in Cochrane, which features auctions and sponsorship opportunities ranging from $100 entry-level sponsorships to $100,000 for branded sponsorships. You can buy a bleacher seat for $250.
Having conducted his team’s June 2014 training camp on a brand-new FieldTurf Revolution field, Hufnagel is enthused about the surface for Cochrane.
“It really is nice,” Hufnagel said at McMahon following the team’s final full day of training camp June 12. “A soft green, so to speak. Because we practise on it so much, especially during training camp, it’s a lot better on the players’ legs, joints, things like that. The young players in Cochrane will truly enjoy playing on this surface.”
Last-minute invitations to the June 21 Cochrane Turf Gala at Cochrane Toyota may still be available at [email protected]
