Potential of future $100,000 donation creates wonder if renovations are worth cost | by ROSIE HODES

Last year, STA drafted an application for a national grant given through the Kansas City Wizards for sports facility renovations. While STA did not receive the grant last year, president Nan Bone plans to apply again this year.

Bone applied for a $250,000 grant during the 2008-2009 school year that would have gone towards extending the soccer field to regulation size and updating the turf. However, the criteria for the $250,000 grant requires STA to add lights to the complex, which, according to Bone, is not an option because lights would disrupt the neighbors around campus. After clearing up this miscommunication with the Wizards, the team encouraged Bone to apply again for the $100,000 grant that has more lenient criteria.

STA must keep in mind special circumstances while applying for the grant because the campus is inhibited by its location in the heart of a Brookside neighborhood and is also in the process of a budget-consuming capital campaign.  Administrators hope that a grant will diminish some of this pressure and allow sports projects to move up on the list of STA’s priorities.

The administration and the Board of Directors, including chair of facilities subcommittee John Kissick, are now analyzing what to do if STA does receive the grant, and if renovating STA’s sports facilities will reflect the needs of the school.

The last time the sports facilities underwent a serious renovation was in 2001 when Kissick Construction Company updated the soccer field and softball diamond. Until last year, both served to host varsity games. But last year, varsity soccer began hosting home games at Rockhurst University to take advantage of nicer, safer fields.

“If we can manage [hosting games] with our facilities I think it’d be great,” athletic director Mike Hough said. “It’s home field advantage. It’s nice to play on a nice facility too, but I think there can be a mix.”

Even with the potential for the Wizard’s grant, sports facility updates are not at the forefront of the Board of Directors’ priorities, according to Bone.

“The reason maybe that we’d hesitate is that the grant is only going to pay a small portion,” Bone said. “STA has to invest quite a bit of money. Right now we have a Capital Campaign in place that…came about because of a strategic plan saying, ‘Here are some things that STA needs to do in the future.’ And at that point it wasn’t updating the soccer field.”

Hough and Bone agree that beginning another fundraising project at this time would be unrealistic for STA’s community and donors. According to Kissick, an extensive construction project would cost significantly more than the grant provides.

“I am not saying [renovating the facilities] couldn’t be done, but it couldn’t be done for a minimal expense,” Kissick said.

STA’s midtown location and landscape also make a serious renovation project unrealistic, according to Kissick. He said there is not enough space to extend the field in any direction, and there is not a logical or inexpensive way to put a fence on campus. He said that he and Bone have explored many options; however, STA’s campus is too small to have sports facilities near the caliber of many suburban schools.

“[Suburban school] facilities…far surpass what we have at STA,” Kissick said.

Although Hough realizes STA doesn’t have the budget to build his dream facility–including a second gym–he is confident that the athletic department does well with routine upkeep.

“A sport is not going to suffer,” Hough said. “They’re not going be deprived of something they need. That’s just not going to happen.”

Hough is also focusing on new ways to bring in revenue for the athletic department such as hosting a Karate tournament in the Goppert Center Saturday and renting the soccer field to club teams to use for practice. Hough believes his plans could make enough profit in the long run to update STA’s facilities and is not counting on receiving $100,000 from the Wizard’s grant.

“There are things that are just more important [for the school],” Hough said. “That’s how we’re going to have to look at it from [the athletics department] is exactly how they looked at it for the whole campus ‘“ what’s needed.”