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Team DTC & Rocky Hill Score with Sports Illustrated
ROCKY HILL - On December 2, 2003, representatives from Sports Illustrated magazine were on hand as the Town of Rocky Hill hosted its groundbreaking ceremony for the improvement and rededication of John McVicar Field at Rocky Hill High School. The ceremony included the weekly sports magazine naming Rocky Hill as Connecticut's Sports Town. The Town will be featured as part of the publication's Sports Town USA series highlighting a representative town from each state in each weekly issue over the next year.
The improvements to McVicar Field are part of a town-wide, $3.2 million recreation and athletic fields improvement project to accommodate the increasing need of Rocky Hill's growing population. "Our primary focus is to improve conditions at our athletic field facilities, "Lisa Zerio, Rocky Hill Director of Parks & Recreation, said. "The escalating need for Town fields pushes our staff to come up creative alternatives to maximize use while trying not to overtax the turf grass at our available facilities."
 The high school field's namesake, Coach John McVicar, who died in October, had served as Rocky Hill's Recreation Director and coached varsity boys soccer, baseball and basketball at the high school. In his 35 years as a soccer coach, McVicar led his teams to 446 wins, 26 Charter Oak Conference titles and seven state titles. He received Coach of the Year awards from the National High School Coaches Association, National Soccer Coaches Association and Connecticut High School Coaches Association. Coach McVicar was in the inaugural class of the Rocky Hill Athletic Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Connecticut Coaches Hall of Fame in 2001.
The Town dedicated the high school field as John McVicar field in 1995 and will host members of the McVicar family, students, athletes and town residents at the rededication ceremony.
The Town selected Diversified Technology Consultants to provide landscape architecture, engineering and construction administration services for its recreation improvement projects. To overcome the brief planting season and associated down time for turf establishment as well as to reduce long-term maintenance costs, the Town is pursuing DTC's recommendation for synthetic turf at the high school. Zerio said McVicar Field, the Town's premier field, recently received new spectator bleachers as well.
DTC's project manager, Andy Bevilacqua, P.E., said synthetic turf has become much more sophisticated since the original AstroTurfâ debuted in the 1960s and is gaining popularity nationwide. "This will give the Town a field that can handle daily use throughout the year, increased use in the future and helps reduce upkeep costs over the long-term," Bevilacqua said. "The average use of a synthetic turf field is approximately 500 uses per year, versus 75 uses per year for a natural turf field."
The town-wide project entails new and renovated facilities and fields for nine parks and includes field reconstruction, bleacher construction, athletic field irrigation, water front access, park construction, park master planning as well as amphitheater design and construction. Included in the multi-phase projects are improvements to Ferry Park, home of the longest continually running ferry in the country, Maxwell Park, Elm Ridge Park, Sunnycrest Park, West Hill School, Stevens School, Moser School and a 75-acre parcel that will be turned into an amphitheatre park adjacent to Elm Ridge Park and the State Veterans Home.
According to Zerio, there are more than 2,500 athletes from kindergarten through adulthood that use Rocky Hill's recreational facilities and the Town is looking forward to the quick completion of these projects. Up to date progress reports are available online at www.ci.rocky-hill.ct.us by clicking on the Parks Referendum Information button.
Additional Facts and Figures:
- During the last year, the Town of Rocky Hill has added approximately 130 acres to its open spaces.
- The Town of Rocky Hill has in excess of 5,000 residents registered for more than 600 recreation programs.
- The Town of Rocky Hill's Parks Division maintains 556 acres of Town property including athletic fields, building sites and open space.
- Synthetic turf provides the following benefits
- Reduces weekly and yearly maintenance costs requiring no watering, no mowing, fertilizers or pesticides
- Provides a safe and uniform playing surface and reduces impact injuries
- Provides multipurpose field / sport usage on consistent year-round all-weather playing surface
- Host unlimited field events. School Districts report a 200 - 1600 event per year increase
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