In some eyes, the rocks were so big, they might as well have been mountains, the holes so deep, they could have been craters. The young athletes had to navigate uncommon hurdles on their so-called field, with injuries a constant threat.
That all changed with more than 75,000 square feet of sod provided by the Fiesta Sports Foundation as it planted seeds for a better future within the Maryvale community.
Foundation representatives and partners joined the staff, students and athletes at Western School of Science and Technology Wednesday to celebrate the donation of the Rate Bowl football field and a new scoreboard. In the charter school’s 11th year since opening its doors, the Fiesta Sports Foundation also installed a new multi-sport court complex.
In December, immediately after the Rate Bowl was played at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix, the sod was moved to the Warriors’ field on the Valley’s West Side. The foundation, which organizes the annual game, accepts applications throughout the year and announces their selection each Fall. Last year, a field was donated to the Fighter Country Foundation at Luke Air Force Base.
Western School of Science and Technology, a school that serves grades 7-12, was selected in early November after athletic director Adrian Espana applied for the grant.
Espana, the director of student and community opportunities, said that while the school originally did not include athletics, if they wanted to see better grades and increase student and school pride, they would need to offer more than academics. During the school’s first year in 2014, they had three sports and now have nine.
However, they lacked a field worthy of their athletes’ needs.
“Our field was in such a terrible condition that the students before they got ready and warmed up for a game, they had to clear the field and essentially clear rocks and cover up holes that were dangerous during the game, and this was part of their norm,” Principal Valeria Escobedo said.
Escobedo, who has been with the school since the beginning, taught for eight years before becoming principal. She expects to see more participation because of the revamped field.
“Now that we have these upgrades, we anticipate having a lot more (of) our students and families being out here and just knowing that they have a safer space to practice on, play on and win on,” Escobedo said.
Spirit, the Fiesta Bowl mascot, joins drills with students Wednesday during the new football field’s unveiling celebration. (Photo by Natalie Guzman/Cronkite News)
The donation includes a new basketball court and a solar scoreboard and bleachers, something the field did not have.
The Warriors were the perfect choice for the needed additions and renovations, according to Kristina Chumpol, Fiesta Sports Foundation chief of staff and vice president of community investment.
“We always want to find a community that it’s going to have the greatest impact and so when we toured the Western School of Science and Technology, we saw the state of their field, it was a safety hazard truthfully,” Chumpol said. “They were picking up rocks before practices and games, it (the field) was mostly dirt.”
Community is important to the foundation and the field will also be used by three neighboring organizations: Pioneer Preparatory Elementary School, the Watts Family Maryvale YMCA and the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Phoenix, Spencer D. & Mary Jane Stewart Branch.
“We love that there were going to be lots of partners that were going to be able to utilize the space,” Chumpol said. “So having the elementary school behind them, the YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, we love that. We want there to be all sorts of community organizations that can hopefully utilize these facilities so it just increases the impact.”
Following the ribbon cutting ceremony, Pioneer Prep students received the chance to participate in a football clinic hosted by the Warriors’ football and flag football players.
The Western School’s creation came from Pioneer Prep students and families wanting a middle school and high school for their students to continue. Now the neighboring schools will share the field.
Western football senior captain Jose Beltran, who attended Pioneer Prep, wishes the field was something he had as an elementary student.
Beltran said despite not playing on the field for his final season, he’s excited his teammates, including his younger brother, now have a welcoming and safe space to train and compete.
“I think it’s going to make us play a lot better,” Beltran said. “I think just having this kind of field gives that motivation to just be better because before we made a lot without anything and just having something now, it’s going to influence us to become great.”
Beltran said it was frustrating to play on the previous field.
“It’s crazy, in the beginning before this field we got injured all the time before or after practice as well,” Beltran said.
A commemorative football marks the date Western School of Science and Technology received its new field from the Fiesta Sports Foundation. (Photo by Natalie Guzman/Cronkite News)
The Warriors football team is not the only one that will benefit from the field. The girl’s flag football squad, still in its infancy, is eager to expand after its debut season last year when, according to Escobedo, it was born out of need.
“A lot of the students were bringing up the want, they were like they want to play flag football, get involved,” Escobedo said. “That opens the door for a lot of our young women to see themselves as athletes, winners, champions, and as leaders on the field, on the board, in the classroom and beyond.”
This is not the first time the Fiesta Sports Foundation has donated to the Maryvale community. It donated a new playground to Tomahawk Elementary School in 2021, after donating another field to Cartwright Elementary School the previous year.
Chumpol hopes the latest donation will help grow football participation in the community.
“We certainly hope that having this great state-of-the-art facility will help increase engagement with football,” Chumpol said. “Football people are our people at the Fiesta Sports Foundation.”
For students and faculty, the recent donation is only the beginning.
“This donation is much more than a field or a court, it is the foundation of possibilities and of stories not yet written,” Escobedo said.
