Carroll High School is in the process of upgrading multiple facilities (mostly athletic facilities). Construction is being done on the football/track stadium, the soccer stadium, the band area, and the school parking lot. Work began in March. Some of the beginning work included the removal of the soccer practice field’s fences as well as the removal of the old softball field’s fences and dugouts (the currently used game field is still intact).
“We are extremely excited to see dirt being moved and proud of what the end result will be,” athletic director Dan Ginder said. “These will be improvements that we and the community will be proud of and benefit from for the next 50 years.”
Carroll is building a brand new football/track stadium. It will have several amenities; including a new field surface, increased seating capacity, new locker rooms, and other new amenities.
“The time was right from a district standpoint. Financially, there were some projects coming off the books that allowed us to do some capital improvements without having to increase taxpayer money,” Ginder said. “It has been a need for a long time, but other priorities (classroom space around the district) took precedent. We have been working diligently on these specific plans since last winter.”
The stadium will have artificial turf this year, instead of grass. The Motz Group (based in Cincinnati, Ohio) will perform the installation. Artificial turf is used at many Fort Wayne high school stadiums; such as Bishop Dwenger’s Shields Field, Spuller Stadium (shared by Northrop and Snider), and Homestead’s Walters Memorial Stadium.
The new stadium’s bleachers will be able to seat just under 7000 fans (5000 on the home side, 2000 on the visitors’ side). Some of the other amenities include a larger press box, locker rooms for home and away teams, two concessions stands, and athletic training facilities.
“Without question, we are very excited to be currently in construction of building a new football facility,” head football coach Doug Dinan said. “Due to the growth of our school, of our district, and our program, this is something that has been communicated about for quite some time and is now in progress. The district and our administration have been very fiscally responsible and we are grateful to have this opportunity to improve the facilities at Carroll High School.”
The team will begin using the new stadium in 2021. The school is planning to add a larger parking area where the current stadium is located.
“The biggest need is for this area to help with AM/PM bus traffic and AM/PM parent drop off/pick up to school,” Ginder said. “This will allow for a more efficient and safer experience for all. This will also serve as primary parking for the Fieldhouse creating closer and more handicap spaces for our patrons.”
The parking area construction will start after the 2020 football season. The team will play the entire season at the current stadium.
There are some adjustments that will be made during the building process. For instance, the track teams will not be able to host home meets in the stadium until the spring of 2022. The building process will still be ongoing during the 2021 season. The teams are trying to figure out what to do for practices and meets.
“We will have to get creative and/or possibly move off site for practices,” head girls track & field coach Phil Yoder said. “We will likely have all away meets that season as well.”
The track team’s throws area has been removed as part of the construction process. However, Yoder said that the teams can practice throwing events at a spot on the corner of Carroll Road and Bethel Road. All in all, he is excited that a new facility is in the works.
“There has been a great amount of time and work put into this project,” Yoder said. “Dan Ginder and the other administrators have done an amazing job, and the finished product will be a great asset to the school and community.”
The soccer program will have some upgrades as well. Some of those upgrades have to do with spectator seating. The bleacher capacity will improve from 500 to 1000. And the seats themselves will be moved from the east side of the field to the west side.
“This will allow the soccer facility to share restrooms and concessions located on the visitors side of the new football/track facility,” Ginder said. “In addition, the spectators will not be looking into the sun the entire game on a sunny fall day.”
Some of the other improvements to the soccer stadium include the installation of new lights, a new press box, and a new sound system. With the spectator seating being moved, the team benches will be moved to the east side of the field.
Like the track teams, the soccer teams will also have some adjustments to make. Among other things, their normal practice fields will not be available during construction, so they will have to practice elsewhere. Ginder said that those details are still being worked out.
“The soccer schedule will be most effected as we have lost the use of our practice fields that we used many times for tournaments and extra games,” Ginder said. “It shouldn’t effect the JV/V normal games, but will certainly effect the tournaments we have hosted in the past when we used multiple fields.”
The band is also getting some improvements. In fact they will have two new areas to use for practice.
“One will be asphalt to take the beating of the foot traffic of all their practice,” Ginder said. “A second field will be re-graded and seeded to allow for additional space for band groups to practice. With a growing program, the need for useable space is necessary.”
Carroll’s football, soccer and track programs (along with several other Chargers’ sports) have been very successful. In the last ten years, Doug Dinan has led the football team to eight winning seasons and three sectional titles. Rollie Clements has won over 400 games as the boys’ head soccer coach. The girls’ soccer program has put several winning teams on the field this decade’. The boys and girls’ cross country teams are coming off trips to state. The school looks forward to the use of their new athletic facilities.
“We had many stakeholders involved in the process working with the design team to make this beneficial to all,” Ginder said.
