'Aiea's new field leaves others green with envy

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

'AIEA — Senior slotback Ben Ah Mook Sang remembers "falling into holes" and "getting ankles busted up" running on the old field.

"Everybody who has seen it has said, 'Wow,' " 'Aiea athletic director Roy Miyoga says of the school's new field. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

But Friday night, 'Aiea High School Stadium will host its first football game on a plush new field that may become the envy of every public school in Hawai'i.

"Everybody who has seen it has said, 'Wow,' " said Na Ali'i athletic director Roy Miyoga, who graduated from 'Aiea in 1968. "It's never looked better."

Football coach Wendell Say, who has been at 'Aiea for 24 years, said "it's almost like carpet ... but it's real grass."

What once was a rock-hard surface now is a soft green turf suitable for a golf course fairway. Ah Mook Sang and Leovao, who started practicing on the field on Aug. 25, said the difference involves more than aesthetics.

"It feels more comfortable when you run, it's more firm," Ah Mook Sang said. "(The old field) wasn't as smooth. You feel more fresh playing on this field. The old field was more like dirt and gravel."

And for Say, there are more practical advantages.

"Safety-wise, there should be less injuries," Say said. "I've had to line the field myself, and with all the bumps in the old one, it was like four-wheel drive. Plus, it was a dust bowl, so the paint wouldn't hold. It's a big difference now."

Like a golf course fairway, however, installing the new field did not come cheap or easy. The nine-month project cost the state about $500,000 for the field alone and another $350,000 for related projects involving the bleachers and retaining wall below the stadium.

It began with the tearing up of the old field — digging two feet deep all the way around and removing about 3,000 tons of dirt — then installing a drainage and sprinkler system, in addition to subgrading and the laying of the specially designed topsoil/sand compost mixture.

Only then could the grass — a surface called "Bermuda Tiffway 419" that actually is used for golf course fairways — be planted.

"It was a major project, there was nothing in the state like it," said Yum Vo, an engineer with PER, Inc., who worked on the field. "It was very ambitious, especially for a public school field."

The finished product is the finest in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association and rivals private school fields at Kamehameha, Punahou and Iolani, as well as the University of Hawai'i's.

"'Aiea may have the best-built field out of all the ones I've been around," said Logan Hamocon of Sports Turf Hawai'i, a consultant and inspector in the project. "It's a very sound design."

Money for the project became available because the field was the No. 1 item on 'Aiea High's priority list for capital improvements, Miyoga said. The stadium, which is about 40 years old, is built upon a hillside in lower 'Aiea Heights.

"State engineers came by about three years ago and said the land there was shifting," Miyoga said. "They said we would need to build a retaining wall and redo the drainage, because the water was coming out only one way. We said, 'If we do all that, we might as well fix the field, too.' "

Miyoga said the school's trainer had kept injury reports that indicated the deteriorating field might have been a key factor. The field also lacked an adequate sprinkler system, so Say would have to drive in on Sundays from his Mililani home to water it.

"Sometimes, representatives from the Aloha Bowl or Pro Bowl would ask about using our field for practices," Miyoga said. "Then they'd come to look at it and they'd say, 'Uh, that's all right.'"

The field is now refurbished, with paved walkways to make the facility ADA compliant, a new long jump pit, a repaired security fence and freshly painted bleachers. The challenge now is to keep it looking new.

Miyoga said a "five-star" maintenance program would cost about $50,000 a year, and he has only about $7,000 available.

"It's going to take some sacrifice from everybody," Miyoga said. "We'll have to aerate the field, fertilize it, spray it (for weeds and pests). Our custodian will have to go out at least once a week to pull weeds, and all the teams using the field will have to move around every day to preserve it. And everybody will have to help fill in the divots."

Maintenance will be difficult, but players say the hardest part was waiting for the field to be ready. Until 10 days ago, Na Ali'i practiced at 'Aiea Intermediate School.

"That was the only down part — we were like, 'When can we use it?' " Ah Mook Sang said.

Leovao agreed.

"Every day, we had to walk by it and just look at it," he said. "Now, we're happy."

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456.