School board furthers new outdoor athletic facilities

By Lauren Pinheiro, Staff Reporter

The Tredyffrin/Easttown School District school board and Heckendorn Shiles Architects plan to add athletic facilities on Conestoga’s campus. The construction will tentatively start early this summer and is scheduled to be completed by Aug. 21, 2024.

The developments include two multi-purpose turf fields, five tennis courts, a softball practice field, a batting cage, parking areas, a road in between the fields and a fieldhouse which will contain storage, four locker rooms, bathrooms, water filling stations, concession stands and a trainer’s office. These developments will be located around the track and in the recently acquired plot of land behind Conestoga. According to Athletic Director Kevin Pechin, this $30 million project will benefit students in various ways.

“Currently we have a lot of our teams going off-site for practices in multiple areas. We are trying to get as many kids as we can on-site, which would reduce the busing, reduce the time (and) practice times will be shorter. (It’s) an effort to make the experience best for the kid,” Pechin said.

According to Pechin, another benefit of the plan is that no sport will be jeopardized by the construction, nor will any sport have an advantage over another. All of the fields will be oriented in the same way to hit the sun equally. Additionally, this will help T/E Middle School students who will be able to access their school’s grass fields for various sports practices instead of lending them to Conestoga. This project is curated for student athletes to have an efficient and convenient experience while playing in the district.

The TESD school board is able to execute these developments with the plot of nursery land behind Conestoga that the school purchased in late 2021. The district will also use the land to create a gated road area in which buses can line up before and after school. This will clear congestion around T/E Middle School and add more parking for sports events.

“We got lucky we acquired that nursery ground land and that gave us the opportunity to build the facility and not mess up any of the existing facilities that we have,” Pechin said.

These developments are intended to benefit students. Freshman Julia Snyder, a member of the track and field team, said that the developments will make practices and meets easier.

“It will help more with storage and easier access to locker rooms and water for meets and practices,” Snyder said.
Both members of the girls’ tennis team, sophomore Anika Maganti believes that an addition of five tennis courts to Conestoga’s campus would benefit the team.

“The addition of the tennis courts would be amazing.” Maganti said. “It would make everything so much more convenient since we wouldn’t have to rush out of school and get to the YMCA.”

Lauren Pinheiro can be reached at [email protected].