Celia Jiménez here, thinking about the upcoming stadium for Marina High School.
When I was in high school, we didn’t have an area dedicated to sports, so we had to attend the nearest recreational facilities, which were a few blocks away. It’s nice to see students will soon have a better place to practice and play sports with their peers.
Monterey Peninsula Unified School District recently announced it’s moving forward with a multi-use field at Marina High.
“Marina High School is the last high school in Monterey County without its own field,” the announcement from the district said.
Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh says while students do play baseball and soccer at the school, they have to play their football games away from campus.
Marina residents have shown their support on social media. I asked the Marina Community Facebook group about the plans, and those who responded welcomed the project with open arms.
“It lets students stay to watch games, limits travel, decreases costs and makes it easier for members of the community to come and support the high school and its student-athletes. This is huge for Marina,” Jonathan Stein wrote.
For Raycheal Jarvis, this project took too long to come to fruition, but she’s glad it’s finally happening.
“Now maybe some athletes will stay in Marina instead of wanting to go to Monterey,” she wrote.
The estimated $12 million project will be funded with Measure I funds approved by voters in 2018. The artificial turf facility will be used for soccer, football and baseball. It will also have a track, bleachers, a scoreboard, lights (DarkSky certified) and a storage area.
Diffenbaugh says having a new sports facility at Marina High will help to grow the sports programs at the school while increasing offerings on campus.
The project could break ground as early as May. District officials estimate it will be ready for the 2025-2026 school year. (Meanwhile, a stadium project at Monterey High School is set to begin this spring as well.)
Marina residents are very involved in local events, so I can’t wait to see what a home game will look like.
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