Leveling the field: Fredonia addresses athletic department concerns
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Athletic concerns for one of Chautauqua County's most successful athletic districts have piled up in recent months at the Fredonia Central School District.
To address poor field conditions at multiple locations of activity in the district, Athletic Director Greg Lauer contacted Great Lakes Athletic Fields, of Buffalo, to evaluate multiple issues, including drainage of the baseball, softball, and soccer fields; dressing and seeding the football field at the Orange Bowl; and filling in the shot put landing at the track.
Superintendent Brad Zilliox stated, "They did come out, early in the spring, to take a look at the fields. However, we did not receive an estimate afterwards. We are now revisiting our requests with them to see what can be done at this point in time."
Zilliox said the district was assured Great Lakes Athletic Fields is still interested in working with Fredonia, but the district will also consider utilizing local landscapers to assist with the improvements.
"We understand any work that we can do at this point in time, and the scope of that work, would not fully resolve all the issues, but we would see this as an upgrade from where things stand currently," Zilliox said.
In terms of future capital improvements, Young and Wright Architectural had representatives on site for six days of evaluation of the district's facilities needs. Zilliox noted he was impressed by Young and Wright's evaluation process.
"They are conducting an overall analysis of our facilities, both inside and out, as part of our building condition survey process. Once that is fully complete, they will be working to compile those findings to bring recommendations forward for our consideration for the entire district," Zilliox said. "Eventually, items will most likely be bundled together in our next capital project. We're excited about this work moving forward."
To address other athletic concerns, the district also did add multiple paid coaching positions, including an assistant coach for both varsity boys and girls soccer teams; an assistant baseball and softball coach; and an assistant girls wrestling coach. Fredonia Varsity Softball Coach Jesse Beers highlighted inequities of paid coaching positions across the athletic department at a previous meeting of the Board of Education.
"This is definitely upgrading and moving ourselves to a greater position of strength," Zilliox said.
The district also recently purchased automated external defibrillators (AED) for each of the district's sports teams to travel with on the road and bring to practice.
"We do feel good about the fact that we are as prepared as possible in the event of an emergency," Zilliox said.