Naperville North High School unveiled a turf field on Wednesday, hoping for an extra home-field advantage with the new state-of-the-art space.
The new athletics area is storm-resistant and multi-use, just south of the main campus, behind Harshbarger–Welzel Stadium. It has two football fields’ worth of space that can accommodate a plethora of sports, from varsity to freshman, as well as other activities, practices, tournaments, community events, and, of course, P.E. classes.
Naperville North unveils turf field
“We really worked hard on developing a facility that was going to be number one and most importantly, multi-use. And so you can see, the variety of lines that are on the field. And so it’s going to be in use for our soccer teams, our lacrosse teams, our field hockey teams, our football teams, marching band has the opportunity to use the facility,” said Jon Pereiro, athletic director for Naperville North High School.
“It’s really anybody who has a need for a soft space and a safe space, they have the opportunity to get scheduled onto this facility,” Pereiro added. “To be able to have this type of facility, especially in the spring, the early spring, where we have started IHSA sports. And so many of our teams are struggling for field access. This is now truly a game changer for them.”
Mark Cohen, the deputy superintendent for high schools, said the new field would provide more overall playing time.
“So this is just an opportunity to get our students out more often, more frequently. And doing so in an environment where, you know, we can be out here when the weather gets a little bit inclement, it really is going to improve our ability to have, you know, athletics more consistently all throughout the year,” Cohen said.
Collaboration with the Naperville Park District
The new space isn’t just about enriching the student experience for Huskies; it’s also shared-use for the surrounding community in collaboration with the Naperville Park District.
The park district has partnered with Naperville 203 on similar projects, like the synthetic turf field at Knoch Park, in collaboration with Naperville Central High School. This northern space gives the park district another venue for events and activities throughout the year.
“When Naperville North was moving forward with building the fields here, they reached out to the park district to see if we would also have an interest in partnering and having park district programs and community use on the fields at Naperville North High School. And, we were very open to having those conversations. And, we’re glad to be able to move forward with that partnership,” said Brad Wilson, executive director of the Naperville Park District.
The ribbon-cutting represents a collaborative community effort between the park district and school district to give more to the student athletes and the residents who support them.
“With this nice weather we’ve had this November, there may be a gym class on here tomorrow,” said Pereiro.
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