Louisiana: Carver Closer to Building Dream Football Field

Brian Bordainick’s dream football field at New Orleans George Washington Carver is still just that, but it’s moving closer toward reality than it was when his quest to raise money was detailed in a MaxPreps.com story on Dec. 3, 2008.
Back then, Bordainick was trying to raise $200,000 in short order so as to receive a matching grant from the NFL Grassroots Program. Bordainick succeeded, but he still finds himself short $750,000 to complete the $1.85 million project.

“The last thing we want to do is break ground and not get things finished,” Carver’s athletic director told the Times-Picayune of New Orleans.

School officials originally set a July 15 deadline to break ground on the stadium, but those plans were pushed back 30 to 45 days to allow the Recovery School District time to complete plans for the school’s redesign, which will affect the stadium’s location.

Like so much of New Orleans, Carver was damaged by Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, 2005.

“We wanted to hit that July 15 deadline, but now we want to be careful,” said Bordainick, who envisions a stadium that will seat 500 to 1,000 fans and have a track around it that will be the site of high school and middle school meets.

Bordainick said he hopes Carver can play a game in its new stadium as early as 2010. In addition to the NFL, the Saints have provided financial assistance as has the Nike Foundation.

When Nebraska-based Agile Sports Technologies learned of Bordainick’s efforts, it donated approximately $30,000 in video and software equipment. The equipment will help Carver coaches videotape games and practices and share video online while using the same system employed by NFL teams and NCAA Division I football programs.

“We’re really impressed with the hard work that Brian and the guys are doing down there in an effort to take athletics to the next level,” said David Graff, the chief executive officer of Agile Sports.

Carver continues to maintain a website at www.9thwardfieldofdreams.com to provide update, press releases, news coverage and a blog by Bordnarick chronicling his fundraising efforts. The project also has its own page on Facebook and Twitter under the screen name “9wfieldofdreams”.

“I think people are really excited about trying to help us get this done…,” Bordainick said. “So far it’s been nothing short of amazing to watch what has happened, and we’re excited about working toward this amazing goal.”

As originally published By:Dave Moormann on MaxPreps.com