Projects break ground at UCLA

To many students, it may seem that construction projects at UCLA
are years behind schedule, but the construction for the new
intramural field and parking structure is actually three months
ahead of schedule.

People should be able to park in the new lot for the spring 2003
quarter, said Mark Stocki, director of Transportation Services.

The intramural field should be up by the start of fall quarter,
said Michael Deluca, director of Cultural and Recreational
Affairs.

“It is great if the construction is ahead of
schedule,” said third-year economics student Brad Silldorff.
“It would be nice to have an IM field before I
graduate.”

Since the demolition of the old intramural field, Transportation
Services and Cultural and Recreation Affairs have cooperated with
each other to help intramural activities run as normally as
possible.

“Transportation Services is compensating CRA for their
losses,” Stocki said.

Parking is off-setting CRA’s lost income during
construction and maintaining other fields for them, Deluca
said.

“For the past year-and-a-half, we have been creative in
adapting intramurals,” Deluca said.

Students have been playing most of their intramural games on the
North Athletic Field and at Drake Stadium, he said. Some games are
held in Pauley Pavilion, and there are a couple of special events
on Spaulding Field.

In addition to moving games, the CRA staff has modified the
sports and reduced the number of players to accommodate smaller
fields, Deluca said.

“Instead of seven-on-seven players for football, students
are now playing five-on-five,” said Chad Brown, manager of
intramurals and club sports.

To some, these measures take away from the games.

“Seven-on-seven is real football,” said first-year
undeclared student Brad Keyes. “It is more fun.”

To compensate for less space Brown said, “including the
end zones, we had to shorten the football fields to 60 yards,
instead of 80 yards.”

CRA also had to reduce the number of teams from approximately
180 to 200 teams, to 130, he said.

In addition to football, CRA had to alter other sports, such as
softball.

The usual number of four fields used for the sport was dropped
down to two, Brown said.

Because of the limited amount of space and construction,
students have to use a softer ball, so it will not go as far, he
said.

With the new field’s completion, intramural games will go
back to normal. The field itself will have improved features.

The new intramural playing field will have better and safer
playing conditions, Deluca said.

The main features of the new field will be a sport-turf grass
surface, full lighting on both halves of the field, and a
sand-based material below the field to provide drainage for better
irrigation, he said.

“By having the field lit ““ which will allow students
to play at night ““ and having the ability to rotate the
sports, we will be able to maintain the field better,” he
said.

In the past, huge activities and festivals were hosted on the
field, such as dog shows and the after party for the MTV awards,
which were held in Pauley Pavilion one year.

For future events, the new field will feature tent tie-downs
embedded in the parking structure.

“With the completion of the new field, we would like to
have open recreation for anyone,” said Brown.

Students like Silldorff would be pleased to hear that.

Silldorff said that he could not practice for intramural
football on the North Athletic Field. “They are always using
it for soccer or other events,” he said.

The new parking structure will be located underground, beneath
the new intramural field.

“The new parking structure will be similar to several
structures that we have built recently, such as the extension to
Parking Structure 4,” Stocki said. The lot will provide about
1500 parking spaces and will help with the student waiting list for
parking, he said.

The new structure will compensate for the loss of several lots,
such as those on the southwest part of campus, which were lost to
the Southwest Graduate Student Housing, and Lot 14, which was
demolished for hospital construction.