Concordia High School is making several improvements to the Zollner Athletic Complex. Head of school Michael Thom put out a Facebook video announcing many of those improvements on Friday May 15th. The school received a donation in the fall of 2019 to build a brand new video scoreboard at Zollner Stadium. Since then, they have sought and received contributions for additional upgrades. They have received a majority of the money needed to fund the construction projects. Improvements Concordia currently plans on making include changes to the tennis courts as well as changes to Zollner Stadium involving football, soccer, band, and track & field.
One of the biggest changes is that the football field at Zollner Stadium will have a field turf playing surface as of this fall. Concordia joins a number of schools in the Fort Wayne area who have begun to use artificial turf. Dwenger’s Shields Field and Northrop’s Spuller Stadium (also used by Snider) started using it this past season. Carroll will begin using artificial turf in 2021.
In recent years, weather conditions have taken their toll on the field. For instance, it was drenched in rain and mud when the Cadets hosted Bellmont in the 2018 3A Sectional Semifinals. Rainy conditions affected the field this past year in home games against Bishop Dwenger and Carroll.
“The field conditions, particularly over the past two seasons, certainly contributed to our desire for field turf,” athletic director and head football coach Tim Mannigel said. “Ultimately, we feel that this surface provides for our athletes the opportunity to play on a high-level surface and at one of the premier facilities in Indiana.”
It’s not just the football team that will benefit from these upgrades. A new track for the track & field teams will also be built. The track will be used by Concordia as well as various middle school track teams. In the Facebook video that Thom released, he said that the track needed to be replaced in order for the track teams to use it for competition. Also, the Concordia soccer teams plan to play home games at Zollner starting this year. In past years, they had played at Kreager Park. The marching band is also planning to hold practices and rehearsals on the field, and may be able to host competitions there in the future.
With the band and multiple fall sports teams using Zollner Stadium, Concordia is working out a plan to allow all teams to use the field without running into scheduling conflicts. At this point, school officials are not intending to make any teams change their practice locations during construction.
“We are confident that we can put together a schedule that will allow maximum use of the field with minimal effect on other teams,” Thom said. “That planning is currently in the works.”
In addition to the upgrades to Zollner Stadium, all 12 tennis courts, located at the athletic complex, will be resurfaced and repainted. The courts are used by both Concordia and Dwenger. School officials have pointed out that the courts were in need of repairs.
“There had been very little attention paid to the tennis courts since 2003,” Mannigel said. “They were showing signs of wear and tear. The resurfacing was needed.”
Work has already begun on some of these projects, such as land prep for the track and the field turf. The school plans to have all projects done in time for the 2020 fall sports’ seasons.
“Although school facilities remain closed through June 30, 2020, we are using this time as a way to do the upgrades as efficiently as possible,” Thom said.
Concordia received funds from organizations such as the Lutheran Foundation and the Mary Cross Tippmann Foundation. Various individuals also contributed funds.
“Concordia is blessed with many generous alumni who want to be a part of what we do,” Mannigel said. “Our Concordia Educational Foundation was very instrumental in helping to get this project funded, along with the other two [organizations]. We could not have accomplished this at this time without them and we are very thankful to them.”
“I can’t say enough about the appreciation we as the CLHS community have for our supporters,” Thom said. “This is a true testament of the value these groups see in the mission of our school, and is a huge encouragement to all of us.”
