Heritage Expanding Facilities
There is a lot of work that is being done at the Vidalia Heritage Academy sports complex, and the students and the community will all benefit from this project.
VHA has already finished an indoor baseball and softball practice facility, and is working on the new baseball and softball fields, along with new concessions and a new weight room. Heritage purchased the old city pool facilities and Charles Wood Football Field from the City of Vidalia several years ago and has continued to do work and create its own complex. The Eagles football team has used the football field for the last few years, and decided in honor of Charles Wood to keep using the name. Wood was a Vidalia High School Indian whom the field was named after.
VHA has since begun other projects, and they are well underway. Currently, if you drive by, you can see all of the work that is being done on the new baseball and softball field. What you can't see is the work that is being done in the old buildings that they kept on the property.
One has already been transformed into an indoor practice facility for the baseball and softball teams with batting cages that can be pulled back to allow for pitching, throwing and fielding drills. In the building next to that one they are putting in a new weight room, along with remodeling the back of the building to turn it into the concession for the baseball and softball field.
The field is a big project, and VHA hopes that when it is finished they will have a great addition for their student athletes There will be a unique high wall in right field, and then all the way down the left field line will be a brick wall that will also act as a retaining wall on that side of the field.
VHA Head Baseball Coach Seth Sitzman said, “The indoor facility has been huge for us, especially with all of the wet weather that we have had this year. It has been a blessing to have all of the people come out and help with this. We still have some paint to go on the outside of the building, but it has come a long way.
“We have finished the rough grading of the new field and are really starting to get it going. We have a lot of work to do, but it is going to be fun to watch it develop. It will also be great to see the kids' reactions as this project progresses and they get to see what we are working on for them.
“A lot of the kids are already talking about what is going on. To see the smiles on their faces, to hear them talk, and to see the pride that they have in their school is completely worth it. It is also helping us build these programs, by giving them their own fields.
“There have been so many people involved in this project from the Sikes Brothers Contruction that have done all of the grading on the field, to the parents that have not only donated but have come out and done a lot of the work with us. We just have a great family here at Heritage.”
Sitzman added that no matter what problems they run in to, the people involved with the school, from Headmaster Jeff McCormick to the rest of the administration, faculty, parents and events, the kids always come out to do anything they can to fix the issue. Sitzman said there are hundreds of people that could be named that have helped with all of the projects.
The goal for the baseball and softball field project is to have it finished to be able to play softball this fall. They have a lot of work to do, but they are confident that with all of the help that they have they will be able to get it done.
