Over the past five years we have explored options to allow us to add lights to our baseball field. Numerous reasons surfaced over the years that made putting lights up make sense in our baseball program. As our program has grown to average 60 plus players and class times at Erskine are scheduled all the way up to 5 pm, it has become impossible to have our baseball team together en masse at practice. Also, so much class time is being missed due to games, that lights would help alleviate missed class time as well. Another critical piece in the lights scenario has been the hazard of having the baseball field located below our tennis courts. Foul balls regularly find their way onto the tennis courts while play is going on. Our coaches have tried their best to schedule around each other when it comes to games and matches but practice is much more difficult to schedule around.All of these factors have brought us to the conclusion that lighting our baseball field is no longer a desire but a necessity. Lights would allow our team to practice at night while they attend classes all afternoon and our tennis teams practice. The obvious roadblock to lights is financial. Common sense would have had lights put up five years ago but the costs have always smacked us in the face. Now it has become an urgent necessity so we will need approximately $8000 a year. The $8000 a year over the next ten years would allow us to lease and pay for light usage and then at the end of ten years we will own the lights. It is a good deal for us since fundraising for $8000 a year seems less daunting than an upfront $120,000 fee that we have been asked to produce in the in the past.
So let the fundraising begin in search of $8000 a year. I don't mind making a shameless plug on this blog for money to help us put the lights up. If you could help or you know someone that could, please contact me. The addition of lights would solve so many problems. I am aware that it may create problems as well, but at this point the positives far outweigh the negatives. The financial aspect will be difficult but we have learned that when something needs to be done, God seems to provide. We pray that will be the case here. Let there be light!
