South Lakes High School Booster Group Exploring Options for Turf Field

A group of and youth sports parents is exploring the idea of raising money necessary for installing an artificial turf field at the school.

The group met as part of an South Lakes Athletic Boosters' meeting two weeks ago. Also interested in joining the effort are Reston Youth Soccer, Reston Youth Football and the South Lakes High School Marching Band.

Estimated cost of installing turf on two fields, plus lights and maintenance is about $2 million, says Athletic Boosters president Matt Maginniss.

"We talked about the estimated costs and about what each of the groups present would like to see [for example soccer fields are different size than football fields]," Maginniss said.  "We talked about the need to engage the Herndon Boosters to learn the process they went through."

Herndon High installed a turf field in 2010. More than $1.3 was raised in less than a year, Matt  Mahoney, former Herndon High director of student activities, told the Fairfax Times. The fundraising was easier with public-private partnerships, such as with youth sports, he said.

With a turf field, teams can play in poor weather conditions.  Seven of the 25 FCPS high schools have turf fields, and several others are looking into installing them.

Jeremy Lee is heading the subcommittee to explore the turf fields for South Lakes. Anyone interested in joining the effort can email him at turfsouthlakes@gmail.com. There is also a boosters website with more information. Click here to visit it.

To read the rest of the Fairfax Times story, which looks at turf fields in Fairfax County, click here.