Poor lighting used to illuminate the Bernards turf is harming the student athletes. The current lights being used are small, portable and are very ineffective. The lights place setbacks on many sports and make it hard for the viewers to watch games.
Sports such as field hockey and soccer are greatly affected as some games cannot be played due to the lack of visibility of the ball from insufficient lighting. Even for sports such as football where they are able to play with the current lights, it is still difficult for the viewers to enjoy watching as it is hard to see anything out on the field at night.
A player on the JV girls field hockey team, Gabriella Valente ‘27 said, “When I played JV field hockey my games were always canceled which made for such a short season, so I think it’s important we have lights so the games can go on.”
There was a recent meeting, open to the public, discussing the matter of putting new, brighter high tower lights up. Many people are in favor of this change, as it would greatly benefit all Bernards athletes in the community. Although, some neighboring houses of the school are fighting against it, claiming the lights will shine too bright at night and disturb them. According to Dr. Bruschel, due to Bernards being inside a neighborhood we are not at the point of installing new lights yet, but another meeting will be held in March to continue to push for the project to happen.
There was a recent meeting, open to the public, discussing the matter of putting new, brighter high tower lights up. Many people are in favor of this change, as it would greatly benefit all Bernards athletes in the community. Dr. Bruschel mentions that some neigh- boring houses of the school have raised concerns against the lights, claiming the lights “will shine too bright at night and disturb them.” According to Dr. Bruschel, due to Bernards being inside a neighborhood we are not at the point of installing new lights yet, but another meeting will be held in March to continue to push for the project to happen.
Many people are concerned about the money the new lights will cost but, Dr. Bruschel said “We are Prepared to budget for it.”
The current lights have several negative aspects and are in need of a desperate upgrade. For example, JV girls field hockey’s games are often ruined as by the time varsity is done playing, it is already to the point in the night where it is getting dark. So, JV games are often canceled or shortened to only 10 minutes, simply because there is no way to safely play under the lights we have now at that time of night. It is also unfair that sports such as soccer never get night time games and are forced to play in the heat of the day, due to it being too hard to see the ball under the current lights. Putting up brighter and more effective lights will open up many opportunities for every sports team here at Bernards and will overall have positive effects.
Superintendent Dr. Bruschel said, “New lights will be much better quality then the ones we have now, giving students athletes the opportunity to play at night is a great opportunity and would allow us to balance responding to the folks around Olcott.”
The current lights here on the Bernards turf are hurting an athletic program that means a lot to the school, as it is poorly illuminating the field and forcing many sports teams to not be able to play in their games. This solution has been a work in progress for a long time and it is time to finally put it into action. Recent LED technology helps to only shine the lights directly where they are supposed to, so surrounding neighbors should not be affected at all. If Bernards installs better and bigger lights at the turf field, many improvements will arise.
