It is no secret that students think this school needs renovations. What they may not know is what students from other schools think about our sports facilities.
This school building was constructed in 1970 with an addition added in 2000. Renovations were slated to start back in 2016, but have been pushed back to 2029. At MCPSl board meetings, each time, renovations were delayed due to funding.
While the building itself may be old, students say that the sports facilities are well run. But students are also saying the buildings run down, such as the bathrooms. “I think the building is not nice; it is extremely dirty, and a lot of things do not work,” freshman Malia Bellamy said.
The baseball field has unique attributes, but there is one that particularly stands out, which is a hill in right field. Although baseball players here think that the hill is special, junior Sam Bulman, who plays for Churchill, thinks of the hill as an inconvenience. “To make the field better I would get rid of the hill in right field,” Bulman said.
Recent graduate Wes Greenberg, who was a baseball player here, thinks that the hill in right field makes playing more difficult. He believes that it requires more practice for players to adjust to the steep incline, but players do take pride in the field and understand the difficult dynamic that the hill adds to the game. “Wootton hill is one of a kind, and I think our baseball team should take pride in playing with the challenge,” Greenberg said.
Students from other schools such as Churchill would enjoy playing on their own field more, no matter the sport. There are advantages to playing at home and disadvantages to traveling to another field and school that the students are unfamiliar with. “If I were to forget about the rivalry and just compare the two fields side by side, I would still prefer to play at Churchill just because the field feels more like home,” Bulman said.
As for the tennis teams, the boys play and practice at Frost while the girls only play there. Tennis players prefer Frost courts over those here due to the courts being cracked despite resurfacing that was done in the last year. Sophomore Arun Mariappan from Quince Orchard plays tennis for his school. He plays at Frost often and thinks that the courts are nice, but still, they are not in the best condition. “The courts aren’t level and have sort of a slant, which makes it harder to play,” Mariappan said.
One of the other fields that students have mixed opinions on is the softball field, which appears to visitors to be part of Frost. Upon the first arrival of opposing players, they have difficulty locating the field as it is behind this school and over a creek. “It can be hard to find, especially when you are coming from another school and have never been there before,” Cornman said.
Students from other schools think that the sports complexes are well maintained. Sophomore Charlotte Cornman from Richard Montgomery enjoys playing at the softball field for that reason. “It is taken care of very well, so games are always great,” Cornman said.
