ProGrass Field Installation!

ProGrass has been hard at work the last few weeks. In fact they have been working under the lights until 10:00 pm this whole week with the exception of Friday. They all worked until 2:00am. The 12" perimeter drainage pipe is all in. Next is the rough grade of stone followed by the geo-textile matt, the field drain lines, and then the final grade of stone. If everything goes according to plan, the green field turf installation should begin the week of the 11th.

GPTC's Tim Nethery and ProGrass site foreman Steve DeWolfe.

Stay tuned to this website for more details, status reports, pictures, and videos as things start to progress.

   For more pictures click here!  *** Updated 8/6/08 ***

    GreendaleNow article!

Done Deal!
The Community Unites to Make it Happen

Greendale High School’s athletic field is getting a high-tech facelift.
GPTC – 6/3/08

Tim Nethery

"It started out as a dream, and now, its reality!" That’s how Greendale Panther Touchdown Club chairman Tim Nethery summarized it. Through a remarkable journey and a series of extraordinary events, the grass, mud, bumps, and potholes that once inhabited Greendale High School's athletic field will soon be replaced with a state-of-the-art playing surface otherwise known as "Field Turf."

On June 2nd, the Greendale district finally passed and moved forward on a plan that was orchestrated by the GPTC to have the playing surface at "Stephen J. Gavinski Memorial Stadium" replaced with what could eventually be, the way of the future. The company selected to do this project is ProGrass LCC. They are headquartered in Pittsburg Pennsylvania and have been responsible for installing over 150 fields all over the United States. Here in Wisconsin, they have installed fields at Carroll College in Waukesha, Brookfield Central High School, and at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Construction is scheduled to begin about the second week of June and providing mother-nature helps out, it should be finished by the first week in August in time for the 2008 fall sports seasons.

Arial view of Gavinski Field
(Hover mouse over picture!)

The plan is for the entire area inside the track to be covered. This field will have a complex drainage system built underneath it to help it shed water. It will have an all-rubber infill, which is what gives the turf its cushion and give, as well as supporting the synthetic grass filaments, which gives it that natural grass look. It will have the black Greendale Panther Head logo at the 50-yard line and will be lined for a regulation football and soccer field. The end zone markings have not been determined as of yet. It will either be just striped or it will say "GREENDALE" at one end and "PANTHERS" at the other. For more information about how a field like this is constructed, click here for the ProGrass website.

Of course, having a field like this will now put Greendale in a different category amongst the rest of the schools in the area. It will also move them towards the top on the list of favorable locations for post season playoff sites. This would not just involve football, but soccer as well. Because of the durability of a field like this, many other extra-curricular activities like band competitions can also be held there without the worry of trampling down the grass. When it's all said and done, you can pretty much do anything you want on a field like this, and never have to deal with mud, potholes, or puddles again. It now becomes the perfect playing surface.

Keith Ringelberg

The GPTC wasn't the only group involved here. They had help from others including district staff and administrators, Village of Greendale staff, and the district's engineering consulting firms of Eppstein & Uhen and CG Schmidt. Of course, none of this would ever have happened if it wasn't for the wonderful people and organizations that donated towards this worthy improvement. Keith Ringelberg, who was the financial lead person for the GPTC, was confident from the start that getting something like this done in Greendale could easily happen. "Getting something like this done shows you exactly what Greendale is about," explains an elated Ringelberg. "It also proves that by working together, you can get things accomplished to make Greendale even a better community than it already is. This is what separates us from everybody else and this is why people like living here!"

Rodney Mattrisch

The original idea of this field was kicked around two years ago, but it wasn't until this past fall when a decision was made by the GPTC to pursue this lofty goal. "There were countless numbers of meetings, phone calls and emails, all of which had some little part in this," explained Rodney Mattrisch, who is a third member of this team from the GPTC. "It was a little more involved than we originally thought, but we just kept our nose to the grindstone so that we could see this to the end. All I know is that I can’t wait to walk on it when it's finished!"

Suffice to say, that same sentiment will most likely be repeated by all of the high school coaches and support staff as their seasons grow near. As for the students, they will now have the chance to excel at their craft and not be hampered or handicapped by a poor playing surface anymore. And let's not forget about those moms either. They can finally say goodbye to the nasty grass and mud stains on uniforms that were so graciously adorned by the field of Greendale High.

Mark Kapocius

The last member of the group who served as a consultant is Mark Kapocius. He is a long time resident of Greendale and works as an Attorney & Human Resource Manager for the School District of Elmbrook in Brookfield. He just went through this same process with their new field so he knew exactly what needed to be done, not to mention how things worked. He was the one that helped finalize the technical and legal issues in the end to make this project finally come to fruition.

Congratulations Greendale! Make room for yet another, feather in your hat!