Tag: sports

  • Natick’s Natural and Synthetic Turf Field Study Group stays on course with sports fields research

    Memorial Field, one of 3 artifical turf fields in Natick.

    After months of debate over how to best use turf fields in Natick, the town’s study group is making progress researching the pros and cons of artificial turf. 

    The town established the Natural and Synthetic Turf Field Study Group in January to study environmental, financial and children’s health factors in turf field installation and management.

    The study aims to collect data to help the town plan for the future of sports fields across Natick. 

    “Our goal as a study group is not to recommend one thing or another, but it’s to ensure that everyone has the information they need to make an informed decision,” said Julie McDonough, who is part of the group and a former Natick School Committee member.

    Simultaneously with the January 2026 establishment of the study group, the Select Board, Superintendent and Town Administrator forwarded a separate initiative to analyze the design feasibility of the “disrepaired” JV field at Natick High School. 

    “The grass isn’t growing — it’s compacted, so it’s hard, and so that makes it a little bit unsafe,” McDonough said.

    The town approved the field design funding for the JV field during the 2024 spring meeting. However, later that year, a group of Natick Town Meeting members called for a 3-year moratorium on the installation of new synthetic turf fields due to concerns over the effects of turf. 

    The moratorium presentation highlighted toxicity risks to children from turf as well as climate and local environmental risks. 

    “I just think there are too many reasons not to do it,” said Rick Devereux, one of the residents who proposed the moratorium. “It’s our kids.”

    The moratorium “would allow time to address uncertainties,” according to the presentation. 

    The issue failed at the town meeting. 

    A year passed, and the same moratorium group issued an advisory moratorium on turf fields. This time it passed. 

    In response, Select Board and study group member Bruce Evans suggested forming the Natural and Synthetic Turf Field Study Group. 

    The town passed two initiatives. One to analyze JV field design possibilities, and the other to study the effects of synthetic turf. 

    The study group held its first meeting Feb. 2.

    Going forward, the study group will hear from experts from different organizations, such as Parks and Recreation and the Department of Public Works, to gain a balanced perspective for their report. 

    Other nearby towns have also undergone similar studies, including Wayland and Arlington.

    Devereux commended Wayland’s approach to turf fields, particularly agreeing with their ethical concerns. 

    “The idea of replacing grass in a school with plastic when the school is trying to, you know, teach and model more sustainable behavior for their students, was an enormous moral gap,” Devereux said. 

    However, Natick High School Lacrosse Coach Nathan Kittler said he believes turf fields provide more playing hours, which could solve field overusage.

    Grass fields must have a certain amount of “rest hours” to preserve grass quality. With the designated rest hours and the number of fields available in Natick, there are not enough playing hours for all the sports teams. 

    It’s too much for the fields to handle. 

    “At the beginning of the season, after they let [the grass] rest all summer long, and don’t let everybody on it’s nice,” Kittler said. “But once the season starts up, it’s destroyed within weeks.”

    Kittler said even the players prefer the turf over grass. In the end, the high school and youth teams are most affected by the change. 

    After the study group submits its report, the town will have to weigh the potential health and environmental concerns against the playability for the youth sports teams.

    McDonough said she hopes that the group will have an interim report by spring and a full report for the Fall Annual Town Meeting. The report will guide any future decisions about local field design, potentially including the JV field. 

    The study group has four more meetings planned for March 16, March 23, April 6 and April 13.

    “Natick will decide,” said Evans. “It’s ultimately a town decision that says, you know, [what] do we want?”

  • Pumped for Pickleball: That click-clack sound you hear is Newton’s newest fanatical sport

    Sharé Kenya and Zhong Zhang enjoy playing pickle ball at the Wells Avenue YMCA. Photo by Wen Qi

    Pickleball has won the hearts of Newton’s 50-and-older crowd over the past two years–as a leisurely hobby for some and a high-stakes competition for others.

    As early as 7 a.m. year-round, Newton residents hear the click-clacking of red pickleballs hitting the courts, interrupted by spats over game calls and paddle tapping to show good sportsmanship. The players, many of them retired, defy all assumptions about their age group as they march onto the court.

    “It’s been kind of crazy to see how big it is here for sure,” said Michael Cornish, assistant director of sports at the Wells Avenue YMCA in Newton. 

    Cornish has worked as the assistant sports director there for two years and became the head of pickleball last summer. When he first joined the Y, the sport hadn’t yet made its way to the mainstream in Massachusetts. But he noticed an uptick on the indoor courts in the winter of 2023-24.

    “I know I talk to a lot of people who are retiring, and they’re here every day because this is their post-retirement thing,” Cornish said.

    The indoor courts at the Wells Ave YMCA can hold up to 24 players, and Cornish says they fill up when the gym opens at 7 a.m., with an additional 20 to 30 picklers standing in line to play. This is the case until around 10 p.m. (earlier on weekend nights) when the gym closes.

    “It’s gotten to the point where it’s more popular than tennis,” Cornish said.

    With only three indoor courts available, the Church Street YMCA gym in Newton is not a primary destination for local picklers, but the courts still fill up when they’re available, said Paige Willis, the sports and recreation director at Church Street.

    “They’re always asking for more, but we have other programming,” Willis said.

    Joel Pritchard, a congressman from Washington state, created the sport out of an old badminton court in his backyard to remedy a boring weekend with his family and friends in 1965. Twenty-five years later, in 1990, the game spread to all 50 states, and it continues to grow today.

    Pickleball gained even more popularity during the pandemic as an easy way to exercise; it doesn’t involve close contact or extreme physical exertion. Influential celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney helped popularize the craze when clips of them playing went viral on social media.

    “It gives you an objective,” said Agi Sardi, a computer engineer in Newton who plays at the Y up to three times per week.

    Sardi says pilates and yoga are just as good of a workout as pickleball, but working with a group motivates her more to get active.

    Rich Bryden keeps his focus on the pickleball at the Wells Ave YMCA, Newton. Photo by Wen Qi

    Paul Antonellis, who is retired, started playing three years ago, practices an average of five days a week, and participates in tournaments with friends around the area. He said the game does come with risks.

    “There’s a lot of injuries,” he said. “I tore two tendons last year. I was out for four months because I gotta let it heal. A lot of people have leg injuries, they fall, yeah, there’s a lot. The orthopedic people love pickleball.”

    Toward the beginning of the craze, Cornish says, some players took the game too seriously, which led to fights.

    “They’ve gotten better with it as of lately in terms of being able to turn it down a little bit,” Cornish said, “but definitely in the beginning people were getting very competitive to the point where like, you know, me or my supervisor would pretty much have to go on there and warn them that they have to relax a little bit or they can’t play.” 

    He recalled an instance when a player let his passion get the better of him.

    “I remember these two grown men in their 40s or 50s,” he said. “One of them was going to put away the pickleball net, the other one wanted to keep playing, and they got into an argument that led to a push, led to a couple shoves, and we had to step in and break it up.”

    While there have been several instances pushing the boundaries of good sportsmanship, Cornish concedes most players do not resort to violence and stick with trash talk.

    Michael Sseksi, 25, a certified nursing assistant in Waltham, plays five times a week with a patient in Newton he cares for. His patient has cognitive issues that affect his personal life, but when he gets on the court, Sseksi says, he knows exactly what to do.

    “So that, I think, helps him to keep his mind together, like something that he can hold onto,” said Sseksi, who is originally from Uganda.

    After Sseksi began to take his patient to pickleball, he realized that he should join the game and get some exercise instead of watching from the sidelines.

    “Whenever I would come in in the morning,” Sseksi said, “they would say, ‘Hi, Michael,’ and I felt like I was home.”