Antioch's athletic fields ready to spring into action

Tucked just northeast of Antioch's football stadium, a short jog north of Route 137 on McMillen Road, sits another county.

Community High School District 117 takes proud ownership of the site, which is vast enough to land jets.

Take the black-topped entrance road and all you can see, besides 12 sparkling tennis courts, which still look brand-new two years later, are green grass and trees. The trees are off in the distance, essentially enclosing the complex.

There are acres and acres of land waiting to be stomped on and slid on by teenage athletes -- high-schoolers, grade-schoolers, you name it.

Steve Schoenfelder is so hopping excited that he invited the media out this week for a tour.

And now I know why Antioch Community High School's athletic director couldn't wait to show off his school's new facility, which is scheduled to host its first games in the spring.

"Within five years, you'll just see kids all over this place in the spring and fall," Schoenfelder said. "It'll just be 40, 80, 110 acres of kids out here playing."

It's overdue.

Work on the new fields began about five years ago, after 40 acres were released to the school district. The need for the fields became apparent once Lakes Community High School (which opened three years ago) started utilizing the school's former facility, Polley Field.

Why so long for the fields to be ready? According to a press release issued by ACHS, the original plans to have the fields completed in the fall of 2005 didn't materialize due in part to other government agencies requiring various permits over the five years. That helped contribute to the delay in obtaining the required 150,000 cubic yards of dirt needed to build the complex.

"It took a little longer (to complete) than everyone wanted, but in the long run some good things are going to come out of this," Schoenfelder said. "You're going to see a lot of green where you couldn't even walk on before, or you wouldn't want to."

The facility is built on top of a former Superfund site. But the old dump hardly stinks.

Bet Antioch's varsity softball team can't wait to play a home game on its new diamond next spring. After a couple of failed attempts to grow grass in the outfield, the field was sodded, and it looks great.

There are roofed dugouts made of a landscaping bricks. There's also a fence in the outfield, which looks very reachable for hitters.

Best of all, almost all of the grass in the complex is watered by an in-ground watering system that allows for efficient watering of the fields, which in turn should allow for a high quality turf to develop.

"They're built to drain," Schoenfelder said of the fields.

The complex will also feature competition fields for field hockey and soccer, three other multi-purpose fields, two additional softball fields and two practice areas that are about half the size of a regulation field.

Cross country meets might be run here someday.

Across McMillen Road, next to the football stadium, the varsity baseball diamond has been regraded and the outfield has been seeded. A permanent outfield fence is coming, along with a new scoreboard.

"We got nice fields for the kids," Schoenfelder said. "We got enough fields here that we can rotate areas out every year to get them back up, so we don't overuse stuff."

Recently, the fields passed maybe their first test.

It poured.

Shortly after that, Schoenfelder was giving a tour to IHSA assistant executive director Kurt Gibson.

"When Kurt came out here, he was asking about the rains we had had the two weeks before," Schoenfelder said. "I said, 'I'll be honest with you, there were a couple of nights where we got about 2 inches of rain during the night. I came out here at 9 o'clock (a.m.). I walked this whole perimeter and those fields were wet, but you couldn't find any standing water on the competition fields.'

"They were able to take that much water and take it down. So it was nice to see that those held up. You could tell that that drainage system was working real well."

When it's all completed, the complex will also feature scoreboards and a concession stand.

The Village of Antioch, which not long ago seriously lacked ample playing fields, is on the verge on something special.

"I think the community's going to be real excited about all this," Schoenfelder said.

Antioch's AD surveyed his fields with pride.

"If you'd had come out here last month, that grass was just getting to the point where it was long enough to cut," he said, pointing to one area. "That (area) was dirt and weeds. … That (area) was dirt and weeds."

What the complex lacks is a name. "Fields of Dreams" is taken, by the way. That's the name of Barrington's softball complex.

What does Schoenfelder call his new complex?

" 'Fields,' " he said, smiling. "Thank God we have 'em."