Teams and students alike enjoy a whole new playing experience
After over a year of construction, the new Farrand Field opened this past August. Superficially, the renovations gave the center point of CU’s campus a much-needed facelift. For students, the field offers an opportunity for playing a variety of sports.
One group that benefits greatly from the renovations is the CU rugby team. The team uses Farrand Field as its home pitch, and playing on the hard dirt that used to line the ground of the field was far from comfortable for the players.
John Bezouska, 20, an architect major, said he doesn’t miss the field preparations the team had to do before games.
“Before every game, we had to go out with bags of sand and cover up the metal sprinkler heads,” Bezouska said. “A lot of it was just straight dirt, and it would often get muddy and than get really hard. It wasn’t fun.”
The new sod has left the rugby team with a presentable and safer field to play on.
“This year it’s like playing on carpet,” Bezouska said. “It’s the most comfortable thing, like wearing a new pair of slacks.”
It’s not just the rugby players who have had a chance to enjoy playing on the new field.
Adam Minkoff, a junior communications major often spent time on the old Farrand Field.
“We played baseball on that field in the spring and always threw the football,” Minkoff said. “I like the new field. I think it’s a good overall investment that the school made.”
Last year, students living in the dorms were disappointed with the closing of Farrand Field.
“Farrand Field is a big part of Colorado, and we didn’t have it,” said Blair Pesses, 19, a sophomore communications major who lived in Farrand Hall last year.
With the field opening just in time for the school year, incoming freshman were once again offered a place to let loose, with a more comfortable and well-kept lawn.
The idea for construction came in spring of 2002, and included not only Farrand Field, but all of the campus intramural sports fields. A year later a referendum passed approving the project. In 2005, the Legislative Council gave final approval and allotted $5.7 million for construction.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Derek Schimmel at derek.schimmel@thecampuspress.com
