After returning to the Lower Sport Complex after the Morning on The Green Festival, Women’s Ultimate Frisbee member Megan Wong said she did not notice any significant damages from the festival.
She said the fields were about the same as they normally are with the usual holes and dirt patches.
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“It’s hard to say because last year it rained and so the fields were muddy and that contributed significantly to the amount of damage that was caused last year,” Wong said. “It’s hard to know that if it rained this year, if the fields would have been just as bad or worse, but since it didn’t rain, which we are very thankful for, the fields were able to stay in pretty good condition.”
Club sport athletes like Wong and Rugby Team Captain Audrey Johnson were worried about the use of fields four and five at the Lower Sports Complex for the festival on March 14 from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Fields four and five were closed from March 8 to March 16, according to Koberl. Wong said Women’s Ultimate Frisbee returned to their practice fields, on four and five, on Wednesday, April 1. During the closure, the team used the Upper Sports Complex Turf fields and had non field practices. Upon returning from spring break, they practiced in Spanos Stadium once on Tuesday.
Wong said that the university should transition these events to the turf fields so the grass fields are not in jeopardy, stating that the turf fields can take the beating.
The Women’s Rugby team uses fields six and seven for practices. Fields six and seven were not specifically used for the concert according to University Spokesperson Keegan Koberl, but they were not blocked off and were cited as a safe dispersal location.
Johnson said that while conditions are not going to be the exact same as before the concert, the field conditions were a lot better than last year, when the festival used fields six and seven. Before the concert, she previously told Mustang News, even though their team does not practice on the fields they are going to have the concert on, they are still their game fields and used by other teams as well.
Johnson said more trash was picked up this year, but there was still a decent amount of trash.
“Obviously you don’t want trash in your field, and so that kind of sucked a little bit, but it wasn’t as much as last year and I feel like it was better picked up and so I think everyone was really happy about that,” Johnson said. “Overall, we appreciate the school’s urgency in cleaning up the fields afterwards and recognizing they tried to maintain the fields as much as possible and we appreciate them for that.”
During the field closures, while the rugby team’s practice remained open, those who practiced on fields four and five had to find alternative places to practice, meaning fields six and seven had to be shared.
“We definitely shared the space and the space obviously gets reduced a little bit but we just make it work with all the other club sports and all the other teams practicing, and there’s also room on the outsides of the field, so we kind of just all move and kind of make the space work with everyone,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that the lower sports complex is not the best location to have this festival.
“Looking for an alternative location for the concert would be the best plan of action from Cal Poly going forward and be the most beneficial to maintain the fields and allow them to still be good practice fields and be used by the community and everyone on campus that utilizes the fields,” Johnson said.
