Save Warrior Stadium

The athletic facilities at the high school have reached the point of being outdated and unsafe. Three years ago, ten San Diego county schools had gone to the artificial turf and track; today that number has doubled, and more are being funded and planned in area schools. While the pool area, old gym and practice fields are in need of major upgrades, Warrior Stadium serves the majority of students and community members. The stadium not only hosts football, soccer, field hockey, track, cross country, lacrosse and PE classes, but it is also a venue for community groups like Pop Warner, Youth Soccer, Youth Field Hockey and countless community walkers and runners.

The current status of the facility is quickly growing dilapidated. The grass may look nice prior to the first football game, but it always tears up quickly and is a mess for the remaining games, not to mention soccer and lacrosse season. The Track floods every time it rains, is too small to host an invitational and puts our athletes at a disadvantage when it comes to training. The lights in the stadium must be some of the oldest in the county, if not the state. The wooden telephone poles appear unsafe and very outdated. Just the other night an entire standard did not even come on during the girl’s soccer game, later that week the poles swayed in the high winds. According to maintenance, the lights have been made operational for now, but no spare parts exist. Furthermore, the press box roof, where access for years has allowed coaches to have a better view for coaching and filming, has been condemned. The inside of the building is water damaged and in need of repair.

Fallbrook Union High School District recognizes the need for the upgrade to this facility and is committed to assisting in the funding of this stadium project, but this project will not come to reality without financial support from the community. The immediate needs in the stadium are to replace the current turf and track with the latest quality artificial surfaces. Also of great importance is the need to move the light standards from their current position of in front of the bleachers to the more traditional area behind the bleachers. The replacing and moving of the lights would allow for better fan viewing, better filming and a wider track, not to mention a brighter field and track.

In my experience as a soccer coach and athletic director over the last seven years, we are in the bottom two or three out of the nineteen North County Conference schools when it comes to quality playing surfaces and overall venue. The district and the school are ready to move forward as much of the planning, consulting and estimating has already been done. The cost of the turf and track project with stadium lighting upgrade is estimated at 2.1 million dollars.

As you can see, this project will not only benefit student athletes but also the entire community. Fallbrook HS athletics is on the map thanks to many of our fine coaches and sports programs both current and past. A project like this will significantly propel our teams and community to a statewide and national reputation of being a first class athletic program.

Fallbrook Union High School is need of support in many forms. Obviously, financial support is paramount, but we are also in need of volunteers who can donate time and effort to the cause. Please contact the FUHS Athletic Director’s office for more information on how to donate funds and/or provide assistance with the fundraising drive.