Fountain Hills High School broke ground on the new turf field installation on Saturday, July 8. In a few short weeks, months of fundraising will pay off and the Falcon athletes will have a brand-new field to play on.

It took efforts from all corners of Fountain Hills to raise money for the field. The Fountain Hills Athletic Booster Club championed several fundraisers and presented a check for the field worth $355,587.25 to the district on June 7. Financial staff reported a total of $427,000 had been raised by July 10, with donations coming in from individuals and other organizations.

Turf fields have a lifespan that typically lasts for eight to 10 years, depending on maintenance and grooming. The Falcon field was installed in 2014 and started to lose color a few years ago. Durability tests were performed while the field continued to deteriorate, but the last test was performed on Dec. 9, 2022.

An independent company, Firefly Sports Testing, performed a g-max Impact Test to determine the state of the field. Per Firefly, “the test procedure involves dropping a 20-pound impacting missile three times at each location from a consistent height of 24 inches.”

Firefly determined the 2022 soccer teams could finish the second half of the season, but the field would not be safe to use for fall and winter sports in 2023 and beyond.

Fountain Hills Unified School District staff considered alternatives, such as playing on the grass field at McDowell Mountain Elementary School (formerly Fountain Hills Middle School) or traveling for every game. These options did not appeal to athletes or their parents, and the booster club sprang into action.

The supporters of the new field had to run through tight gaps to get it ready in time for the new school year, and they also jumped over the hurdle of mixed reports regarding the field’s warranty.

Nationwide Turf installed the field in 2014, and their standard manufacturer warranty was eight years. The members of the 2013 School Board pushed for a 10-year material-only warranty and got Nationwide Turf to agree verbally at a business meeting.

Documentation of the warranty was not readily available, but Superintendent Dr. Cain Jagodzinski and Board President Jill Reed, who was on the Board in 2013, dug into their records. Jagodzinski negotiated with Synthetic Turf Resources, the company that acquired Nationwide Turf, and got them to honor the 10-year warranty.

Donations were still necessary since the warranty did not cover labor costs to resurface the field. Turf fields typically cost more to install but less to maintain than natural grass fields, and since the concrete foundation for the field was installed nine years ago, resurfacing the turf was cost-effective.

Several community members donated strictly for the love of the game, such as Gary Zauner. Zauner spent 13 years as a special teams coach in the NFL, and he spearheaded fundraising efforts with his neighbors in Firerock Country Club.

“I’m just trying to do what’s best for the kids and raise money because I know one thing, how good football was for me,” Zauner previously told The Times. “That’s the bottom line.”

Tana Boersma, now the elected president of the booster club, led the booster club campaign and was recognized as one of the two community Falcon of the Year recipients. She reported the booster club raised enough to purchase a new scoreboard for approximately $60,000, separate from their donation to the field.

Boersma said she appreciated all the community support, and the booster club is recognizing any donation over $1,000 on a professionally created donor wall. Boersma said the wall will be installed next to the concession stand by the field.

The booster club is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit. The club operates concession stands, provides personal banners for every senior athlete, tutorials for athletes twice a week and senior athlete scholarships.

Visit fhsports.org to learn more about the booster club.

The varsity football season begins on Friday, Aug. 18, at Kofa High School. In week two, the Falcons will play on their own field and host Bourgade Catholic on Friday, Aug. 25.