Woodlawn Field reopened

As the weather turns warmer, students are venturing outside for fun, fresh air and fitness. \nBut the absence of students on Woodlawn Field, at the corner of 10th and Woodlawn Streets, left many questioning the circumstances around the field's closing and repairs. \nThe field was closed until last Monday, when it reopened for student use. \nWoodlawn Field is the site where many club sports held regular practices, including soccer, lacrosse and Ultimate Frisbee. Since the field's closing after Thanksgiving, teams have had to find other places to practice. \nUltimate Frisbee team member Emily Neumann said her team used to practice at the field twice a week before it closed and finding another space became difficult.\n"It was hard to find a place that was big enough for our practices," Neumann said. "Now, we normally use the fieldhouse, but we could not find a place to practice before winter break."\nNeumann also said she and many of her teammates were confused by the nature of the field's closing since they understood the field needed repairs but they hardly ever saw crews working on it during the winter.\nJackie Puterbaugh, associate director of Recreational Sports, said the situation is rooted in how the field was treated in the past. Before last year's repairs, the field was not well-taken-care-of and became unsafe due to constant use. After the repairs, the grass was best during the spring but suffered in the summer because of a lack of an irrigation system. Because the field was not good in wet conditions, it was closed this winter to maintain the field and allow time for healthy grass to grow. \nPuterbaugh said they plan to make this closing a regular, annual occurrence. In the meantime, Recreational Sports makes arrangements for club sports to use other areas like the fieldhouse. \n"Other universities have fields they can use to rotate practices on," Puterbaugh said. "We do not have that available, so we are trying to make it normal to use the field only at certain times."\nWhile much of the closing time is spent allowing the field to recuperate, Puterbaugh said most of the repairs were to take place during spring break, including making the field safer and repairing the track. These repairs were expected to finish on schedule.\nTeams experienced mixed reactions to the closing of Woodlawn Field. Senior Dave Campos, a men's Ultimate Frisbee player, said he acknowledges the need for repairs to the field but is frustrated with the lack of repair crews until now.\n"The field definitely needs repairs. A lot of people have gotten sprained ankles and other injuries from the condition of the field," said Campos. "But they say they are going to repair the field and then they don't."\nPuterbaugh said she hopes teams will come to understand that the closings are needed because continuous play hurts the field.\n"When teams see the benefits of closing the field at certain times, they will be much more receptive to the idea," Puterbaugh said. "This is necessary to create a safe and fun environment for recreation."\n-- Contact staff writer Jorie Slodki at jslodki@indiana.edu.