A multi-million dollar price tag is giving Skyline’s Andreas Wolf, dean of physical education, every reason to smile. It is the cost to develop what’s been deemed by Wolf, “the largest athletic redevelopment project, at college level, going on in the nation.”

Since Skyline first opened its doors in 1969, field sports have been a vibrant part of the college’s curriculum. And while Skyline’s campus offers dazzling Pacific Ocean views, its moist and foggy climate is a serious setback when it comes to sustaining outdoor athletic grass fields.

On glorious clear blue sunny mornings, however, the gleaming green of Skyline’s newly installed artificial turf fields can be an inspiring sight to approaching visitors, faculty, and students alike.

Three, of six district-wide, brand-new artificial turf fields, adorn the grounds of Skyline College, thanks to the vision of Chancellor Ron Galatolo of the San Mateo County Community College District (SMCCCD). Funds were secured in the form of an $18 million loan to pay for the athletics improvements, to be repaid over a 25-year period, according to SMCCCD’s Barbara Christensen, director of community and government relations.

Considering the extent, scope and cost of the work involved, Christensen considers the amenities to be a “sports complex,” with the possibility of adding an indoor soccer field in the future.

“We’ve always got dreams,” Christensen said.

According to her, the main purposes of the project were to have improved safe and attractive facilities.

Wolf expressed the department’s position from a quality perspective.

“Skyline now has a top quality facility with which to market, and attract, top quality, and potential star athletes,” the athletic director said.

According to Wolf, the intentions are for the coaches to professionally develop skills that are already in place. But, now more than ever, Skyline has the facilities from which to “back up what we can offer that will make us competitive with other colleges like never before.”

“A good day of play traditionally destroyed the grass grounds at Skyline, which resulted in fields riddled with pot holes and mud-a liability and an impossibility when trying to attract and encourage potential students that likely have choices elsewhere” he said.

Indeed, “safety is a very important factor,” said Bob Lualhati, physical education professor. “When you have safe facilities, you don’t have to worry about a sprinkler or a hole in the ground. Instead, and more importantly, you can concentrate on skills.”

Both Wolf and Lualhati acknowledged the creative work of the Skyline Trojans baseball team coach, Dino Nomicos. Creativity has been a big part of both working with and surviving the conditions on the athletic fields at Skyline prior to redevelopment.

Coach Nomicos began coaching at Skyline in 2000. In order to work with the grass athletic fields as they were, Nomicos designed and implemented many improvements including raising $150,000 to improve facilities, though the endless battle in dealing with the grass fields continued due to weather conditions.

“Those fields were in horrible shape,” Nomicos said. “It was hard to get kids to come up here to play…. We poured concrete; we built walls,” he said, but they couldn’t battle that one, ever-present moist weather element.

A wonderful accessory to accompany Skyline’s new turf is the addition of three sections of genuine 3Com Park MVP field-level seats, which Coach Nomicos was instrumental in securing on behalf of the college.

3Com Park, formerly known as Candlestick Park and now called Monster Park, had been the home of the San Francisco Giants Major League Baseball team since 1960. When the Giants relocated to their new home at Pacific Bell Park, in 2000, Coach Nomicos seized an opportunity to secure the special pieces of ballpark memorabilia for Skyline College.

“I went down there and we made a deal that if I could have the MVP field seats taken away in 48 hours, they were ours,” Nomicos said.

He also orchestrated a moving company to donate services, a cost of $5,000 to transport the seats.

The new facility says a lot about where Skyline is heading in the future, according to Wolf. The tremendous amount of work implemented resonates in the increased amount and number of telephone calls received by the athletics department expressing interest in the new fields.

“I’ve been getting many calls about renting the fields, and this is part of what Chancellor Ron Galatolo of the SMCCCD foresaw, which was to make a connection within the community, amongst youth groups, youth soccer leagues, high schools, community organizations. Ultimately, these were the kids that would go to college some day and would seriously consider Skyline as a first choice,” Wolf said.

Already, Nomicos said, potential Skyline baseball try-out numbers had increased from 30 players to 90, and the Trojans winning record is showing improvement too. Having only averaged about 2 wins a year for a very long time, last year the team won their first championship in 25 years in a game in which they beat their biggest rival, College of San Mateo, on their own field.

This year, the Trojans have won their first four pre-season games, a success which they partially attribute to hard work, pride and attitude, and partially to the new athletic facility’s atmosphere.

“We’re getting better and better,” Nomicos said. “The facilities, the coaching, the school atmosphere,…team morale is up. There’s a stadium atmosphere out there now which raises the level of play all around.”