Breaking new ground

For years, Yuba College coaches and athletes have waited for the day when the school's outdated sports facilities would be renovated.

The wait is now over.

With bulldozers stationed in the foreground and with ceremonial gold-tipped picks in hand, school officials and dignitaries shoveled away as part of a historic groundbreaking ceremony for Yuba's new outdoor sports complex on Monday.

Although construction officially began last week, the ceremonial groundbreaking was a landmark event for the school's athletic program, which will see $10 million in upgrades funded by Measure J bond, which passed in November of 2006.

"I've been around the state and have seen other facilities, so I knew we were behind," said Yuba College athletic director Rod Beilby. "This will catch us up, so to speak, with the other community colleges."

The new outdoor complex is only the first phase of a two-part project to improve Yuba's aged physical education and athletic facilities. The second phase will include the remodeling of classrooms and the gymnasium.

Beilby said that the outdoor portion of the project is the lesser of the two, with 40 percent of the bond money going toward the new football stadium and track. The other 60 percent will go toward improving the gymnasium and physical education department.

The new outdoor complex will include synthetic playing turf for football and soccer, a nine-lane all-weather track, grandstand seating for 1,500 and a new press box. The new stadium will be located just south of the school's gymnasium, where the school's neglected swimming pool is now.

The upgrade in facilities will be an added boost to a 49ers' athletic program that is already the best in the Bay Valley Conference. Just this fall, both the men's and women's soccer teams as well as the volleyball team won BVC titles. The football team wasn't too far behind and dropped just one league game to finish second.

"Every school we played had turf fields, so when we went on the road we were at a disadvantage," said Lexy Kidd, a Sutter High graduate and standout on the Yuba women's soccer team. "Now, we can play fast and we'll have more seating so people can come to the games."

All of Yuba's current coaches attended the groundbreaking, as did former football coaches Ron Petersen and Louis Menghini, and longtime volleyball head Carol Jean Bordsen.

"There hasn't been a groundbreaking here in a longtime so we all wondered what to do," Beilby said. "The amount of people that showed up today is nice, but when the ribbon is cut and it opens next fall, it will be a bigger celebration."

Beilby, Kidd, college president Dr. Kay Adkins, men's soccer player Roberto Paras, were among those who addressed the crowd of around 100. As each person spoke at the podium, the sound of construction crews and machinery could be heard in the background. "It's exciting to watch things go up, but it'll be really cool when it opens and we start playing," said the athletic director, who acknowledged the project could also help with recruiting at the school. "You would think it would help with recruiting. We really didn't have a lot to show football and soccer players."

49ers' quarterback Jon Garcia agreed.

"I'm excited. It's nice going from playing on a field with no bleachers to a new stadium with a turf field," Garcia said. "If you tell guys that you got a new field, they're more likely to come play."

One common theme throughout the day was the impact the project will have on the community. After all, it was local voters who approved the project.

"I have to say thanks to the community, or this thing wouldn't be possible," said Beilby, who added that the down economy will actually allow the school to get more for its money than before. "When it's done, it's going to be impressive."