“When the construction is finished, Wilde Lake will have the best practice facilities in Howard County,” said Mr. Rau, Wilde Lake’s athletic director, about the practice fields which have been unusable since the summer due to construction.

The reason for the construction on the fields is to put in a new drainage system and replace the existing grass with bermuda grass, which is a popular grass for sports fields, as it recovers quickly when damaged.

The new drainage system is being implemented because Wilde Lake’s school grounds had the worst rating when judged on their overall schoolyard health. Wilde Lake was evaluated on land cover, vegetation, pollution sources, and stormwater management.

“The drainage system will help protect the Chesapeake Bay from pollution by collecting all the runoff water from Wilde Lake and its surrounding areas, and cleaning it before it goes into the bay,” said Mr. Rau.

As of right now, all the other high schools in the county, including Wilde Lake, only have bermuda grass on the field hockey fields, where only the field hockey teams are allowed to practice.

Once the construction is complete, Wilde Lake will be the only school to have bermuda grass on the practice fields besides the field hockey fields.

Construction of the fields was supposed to start in June of last year and end by this past August. However, because of problems with obtaining pipes, actual construction started in July, and then when workers hit rock, progress was further slowed.

“Even after the pipes were finally finished in late October, there were delays, because the window to plant grass was missed so planting grass had to be pushed to after the baseball season, so that the team would still have a field to practice on.” said Mr. Rau.

Despite delays, the fields are set to be ready for use by August 15. While the fields will be closed over the summer so the grass can grow, the fall season will start improved practice conditions for athletes.