MB/X, MBUSD unveil new West Field
MB/X project manager Johnnie Morgan unveils the new West Field at Mira Costa High School with Superintendent Mike Matthews and MB/X president Gary Wayland in the background. Photo
The MB/X Foundation last week unveiled Mira Costa West Field, a new multi-sport, state-of-the-art turf field that will be ready for use by late September.
The $5 million project, which was jointly funded by the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, has been in the planning stages for seven years. Construction began last November with the clearing and leveling of the northwest corner of the Costa campus. Early this month, workers began unrolling the bright two-tone green Astroturf.
“Now that the green is down, everyone is paying attention,” said Johnnie C. Morgan, MB/X project manager and owner of Coastline Construction Management.
A delegation that included MB/X volunteers, school district officials, Board of Education trustees, and a few very excited coaches toured the new field on August 16. The first question Morgan fielded, from school board member Ellen Rosenberg, reflected how much anticipation surrounds the new field.
“So, how much longer?” she asked.
Morgan replied that the target date is the third week of September.
“So it’s not going to be long until you see a sea of green out here,” he said, noting that within the two-tone green turf will be a lot of detail, including the Mustang logo. “It’s exciting. We are really jazzed with how it’s already looking, especially with the two-tone effect.”
The 305 feet wide, 492-foot long field is located along Meadows Avenue and will be lined for soccer, lacrosse, rugby, football, baseball, softball, discuss, and marching band. MB/X executive director Jennifer Williams called the project “one of the most significant improvements ever” to Mira Costa’s sports facilities.
“The project will greatly improve the quality and usability of fields for Mira Costa students, as well as the South Bay community,” Williams said.
West Field at Mira Costa. Courtesy MB/X
The West Field grant was $2 million, the largest in the history of MB/X, whose mission tagline is “Beyond the classroom.” With state funding unreliable due to its dependence on larger economic vicissitudes, and with the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation focused on classroom programs, MB/X launched in 2003 as the Manhattan Beach Athletic Foundation. Its first project was a new, rubberized track for Waller field, towards which the foundation contributed $500,000 of the $700,000 budget. The foundation has since helped build athletic facilities throughout the district and in 2008 took over summer school and after school programs. Altogether, the foundation has provided $4.8 million in grants to MBUSD, while also administering millions in grants from the various athletic booster clubs. It was renamed MB/X in 2011 to better reflect its broader scope, recognize booster club and to recognize its booster club partners and support for performing arts programs.
At last week’s project unveiling, MB/X president Gary Wayland was quick to credit the district, noting MBUSD contributed $3 million towards the project. Those funds paid for the infrastructure supporting the new field, including fencing and site preparation.
“MB/X’s work was simply to do the field,” Wayland said.
School board vice president Karen Komatinsky responded that the project would not have happened without MB/X.
“Let’s face facts,” Komatinsky said. “Thanks go to MB/X.”
Morgan brought along a display that showed how the new turf is constructed, with a multi-layered “shock pad” underlying the field that goes more than a foot deep and “Nike Grind” infill made of rubber particles from recycled shoes that is continuously applied to the synthetic grass.
“They are just perfecting it more and more,” Morgan said. “When players fall to the ground, now it won’t be so hard, because of the shock pad. So, fewer injuries.”
Superintendent Mike Matthews said this project has roots going back to before he arrived at the helm of the district in 2010.
“Our dream for this field is to give our team sports a great place to practice and play,” Matthews said. “And the same goes for the community — it’s a resource for the entire community and it’s going to get a lot of use. It’s great to see this come to fruition.”
Once the field is completed in September, work crews will turn their attention to resurfacing the Mustang baseball field, due south, also along Meadows Avenue (the West Field is also stripped for a practice baseball field along its southern border). The baseball field is a separate project being funded by the baseball booster club which is expected to be completed by late September or early October.
Baseball booster club vice president Erik Karros, a former Los Angeles Dodger, said the turf is better than anything that existed in his playing days. He recalled, with a shudder, the turf at the old Astrodome and at the Montreal Expos’ park.
“That was like playing on concrete,” said Karros, who accompanied Morgan to Dalton, Georgia to investigate the different types of Astroturf now available. “It’s evolved. It’s not as good as grass, but it’s very close.”
Synthetic fields, compared to grass, are able to endure a lot more use with a lot less maintenance. Karros noted that all the Mira Costa fields see heavy use; the baseball field, he said, is very near the end of its useful life.
“It’s way overdue,” Karros said.