BLOOM TRAIL HIGH SCHOOL CUTS RIBBON ON IMPROVED SARFF FIELD

A ribbon cutting ceremony was recently held to officially open Bloom Trail High School’s new and improved Sarff Field (pictured). During the summer construction, a new eye-catching blue synthetic turf was installed on the football field, the track was resurfaced, and the track event areas, including the high jump, long jump, triple jump, shot put and discus areas, were all upgraded. Photo Credit: Joe Reda
A ribbon cutting ceremony was recently held to officially open Bloom Trail High School’s new and improved Sarff Field (pictured). During the summer construction, a new eye-catching blue synthetic turf was installed on the football field, the track was resurfaced, and the track event areas, including the high jump, long jump, triple jump, shot put and discus areas, were all upgraded. Photo Credit: Joe Reda

Bloom Trail High School Cuts Ribbon On Improved Sarff Field

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

A ribbon cutting ceremony was recently held to officially open Bloom Trail High School’s new and improved Sarff Field. During the summer construction, a new eye-catching blue synthetic turf was installed on the football field, the track was resurfaced, and the track event areas, including the high jump, long jump, triple jump, shot put and discus areas, were all upgraded.

The Sarff Field improvements were made possible by a collaboration between School District 206, the Mayor of Chicago Heights, David A. Gonzalez, and the City of Chicago Heights administrative staff. Together, the team was able to obtain funding for the renovation through the Qualified School Construction Bond Program.

“These improvements give our student-athletes the chance to play on not only a historic venue but one of the most up to date, state-of-the-art fields around. It’s iconic and it’s a new wave,” said Joe Reda, the athletic director for Bloom Trail High School.

At this point, there are numerous football and soccer fields that have turf instead of living grass for their players to play on, but very few break the mold and choose to install a turf that is any color other than green. For many people passing by, the turf will be what draws them in, but Reda said, “it’s beyond the blue turf,” and there’s so much more to be impressed by when it comes to Bloom Trail athletics.

“It’s funny because when you talk about it, people gravitate to the beautiful blue turf, but we also just put in a brand new collegiate level three-ring shot put area and we just put in a brand new Olympic style discus area and two long jump pits,” said Reda. “Beyond the football field and the soccer field, we have really upgraded our facilities big time.”

For 17 years Reda has been the athletic director for Bloom Trail High School.

“I’ve got to meet and work for great people and when I say work for, I’m really talking about our kids because I work for them. I’ve had some great experiences from football, basketball, cross county, I’ve met some interesting people and made some lifelong friends,” said Reda.

The state-of-the-art track and field improvements will certainly encourage students to get excited about athletics and more importantly, give Reda a chance to impact even more students through athletics.

“I tell kids all the time that grades are the most important thing because someday you get old like me and you can’t do anything anymore, I can’t throw, I can’t run, I can’t jump, but I’m still smart enough to do my job,” said Reda.

“Athletics and education go hand in hand so I think bringing a facility like this to our kids along with some of the other upgrades we made to the buildings shows our kids that we want to give them the best that we have.”

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