By: David Page – The Journal Record
Tim McLaughlin calls the nonprofit organization he founded, Fields and Futures, a booster club for Oklahoma City Public Schools athletics.
The group has rebuilt athletic fields at Jefferson Middle School, 6800 S. Blackwelder Ave., and Webster Middle School, 6708 S. Santa Fe Ave. Fields and Futures has started renovating the baseball and softball fields at Capitol Hill High School, 500 SW 36 St.
But those projects are just the start of McLaughlin’s goals.
“There are 44 fields that need to be renovated,” McLaughlin said.
Jefferson Middle School was Fields and Futures’ first project. Maps for Kids money paid to renovate the school building, but there was no money for the athletic fields, said Molly Helm, a volunteer with Fields and Futures.
“The athletic fields were just pastures with no real sod,” said Keith Sinor, athletic director for Oklahoma City Public Schools.
Fields and Futures provided about $300,000 to renovate the football and soccer fields along with one used for baseball and softball, Helm said. The renovations caused almost immediate changes at Webster. Participation in athletics doubled, Helm said.
“The whole pride at the school changed,” she said. “The students got excited. They got equipment. Now they can have home games.”
Renovation of athletic fields at Webster Middle School was the second project for Fields and Futures.
“They gave us a new football field and a new baseball field and a softball field,” said Katrinka Greear, site athletic coordinator at Webster. “The football field can double as a soccer field. Eventually we may even get a track to go around it.”
Student participation and community interest increased at Webster after the renovations, as well.
“It helped out the community,” Greear said. “It gave the kids something to be proud of and it helped get people from the community out to watch the games.”
Greear has a long relationship with Webster Middle School.
“I went to Webster and Grant (high school),” she said.
She has been in education for 34 years, with the last 25 years at U.S. Grant High School.
“I played on the cruddy fields,” Greear said. “I coached softball for 15 years on a field that was nothing but pasture. The fields are so much better now. The changes are like night and day.”
At Capitol Hill, $7 million for renovations to the football stadium are being paid for with bond money. Field and Futures is providing money to renovate the baseball and softball fields and irrigation for the football-soccer field.
“Success at the middle schools is helping us raise money for the Capitol Hill projects,” Helm said. Sinor is a product of Capitol Hill High School.
“It is a special place for me,” he said.
All of the athletic fields at Capitol Hill are being renovated at the same time.
“Whether people have people have kids in the school or not, the school is a reflection on the community,” Helm said. “It is important to get the community and businesses on board.”
After the Capitol Hill projects are completed, Fields and Futures will move on to other Oklahoma City Public Schools. Rogers Middle School and Star Spencer High School will probably be the next projects, McLaughlin said.
The nonprofit’s plans include more than just renovating fields. Other goals are professional development for coaches and an endowment for continuing maintenance at the athletic facilities, McLaughlin said.
“We want to provide what the coaches need to be successful,” Sinor said. “This is not just about wins and losses on the playing field. We know we will put better kids out in the world. We want a full-circle program to inspire them to be greater.”
But it takes money. So far, Fields and Futures has accepted donations, applied for grants and is seeking partnerships.
It has a continuing partnership with the Wes Welker Foundation. Welker, an Oklahoma City native, plays for the Denver Broncos in the National Football League. He formed his foundation in 2006 to help at-risk students in Oklahoma City by providing money for sports camps, grants to school and youth organizations, and leadership and development training for coaches.
McLaughlin said he was motivated to start Fields and Futures after he went on a tour of the school district’s athletic facilities organized by the Wes Welker Foundation.
“They recognized there was a problem and they needed some help,” McLaughlin said. “They were looking at what they may go fund and getting other people interested and educated about what was needed.”
During the tour, McLaughlin realized he wanted to be involved.
“Toward the end of the day I thought, ‘Wow, this is our city,’ and the things I saw that day were pretty sad,” he said. “I started looking at the facilities and I thought, ‘Why has it gotten to this?’”
His answer was to start Fields and Futures.
McLaughlin said he met with Karl Springer, who was then superintendent for the school district, along with Sinor and other school officials. Springer, Sinor and the other district officials supported McLaughlin’s plan to have a group function as a booster club for the athletic programs.
“I was a student of Oklahoma City schools and coached and taught,” Sinor said. “I knew there was something more to give our kids. We want the kids to know they deserve the same quality fields and facilities as the kids in the surrounding school districts.”
One of the goals is to increase participation in the athletic programs. The national participation rate for athletic programs is 55 percent, McLaughlin said. The participation rate in the Oklahoma City programs is much lower. Should the participation rate in the Oklahoma City district increase to 50 percent, 4,000 additional students would be involved in athletics, he said. Being involved in athletics gives those students the motivation to go to school and make the grades needed to practice and play in games, McLaughlin said.
“Being part of a team or an organization helps them get prepared for life,” he said.
All of the money raised by Fields and Futures is allocated to projects at the schools. The group has no paid employees. The major need now for Fields and Futures is more partnerships and corporate sponsors.
“The Welker foundation deserves a lot of credit,” McLaughlin said. “They saw the need first.”
Corporate sponsors could sign deals for the naming rights at the athletic facilities, but McLaughlin wants to hit a home run.
“The big missing piece for us is a major corporate sponsor,” he said. More members are also needed for the Fields and Futures booster club.
“The ultimate goal is to return Oklahoma City Public Schools to the athletic glory where they should be,” McLaughlin said.