ST. ANNE — For several years, St. Anne Community High School has been working on bringing football back to the school for the first time in nearly five decades.

The first big step in that process came last summer when the school board approved the addition of an 8-man football team, and the latest came Wednesday when the school held a groundbreaking ceremony on a $5.3-million athletic facility that will host football and other sports.

“You spend so much time on the front end, planning and discussing, picking different options, it goes on for so long and there are so many meetings, that being able to break ground, have kids out there and a variety of different members representing the community truly gives us a real feel,” St. Anne athletic director Ben O’Brien said. “This isn’t just an idea, it’s something we’re really doing, and that’s exciting.”

A dozen or so students were joined by members of the St. Anne High School and elementary school boards, as well as other school and community members, to participate in the ceremony.

One of those students, sophomore Jordan Davis, is planning on playing organized football for his first time next fall. To know he will be doing so one of the newest field in the state is an exciting feeling.

“It’s a heck of an experience to have, especially for my first year of coming in and playing football,” Davis said. “That’s a pretty good way to start it.”

<strong>8-MAN SET TO BEGIN</strong>

The Cardinals will be playing in the Illinois 8-Man Football Association beginning this fall, under the tutelage of head coach Alan Rood, who also teaches physical education, health and driver’s education and runs the weight room at St. Anne.

They will co-op with Donovan Senior High School, with the Donovan community joining St. Anne in showing Rood, who came over from Bishop McNamara Catholic High School at the beginning of the school year, plenty of support and excitement.

“The St. Anne community, the Hopkins [Park] community, everybody that’s a part of the St. Anne school district, and down in Donovan, everybody is just excited for this football season,” Rood said. “Everyone’s very supportive and ready to rock and roll in the sense of we’re trying to go do something great. Let’s continue with it.

“The positivity is flowing all over the place, and I love that. It’s very encouraging as a new person in the community the past six or seven months, and it’s been cool to see the support and see everyone involved.”

While the idea to bring back football at the school for the first time since 1978-79 [Editor’s note: St. Anne has had co-ops at other schools, most recently Watseka] was a leading factor in the decision for a new facility.

<strong>COMMUNITY WILL BENEFIT</strong>

O’Brien said that the idea of a new facility transcends not just football, or the other sports that will primarily benefit from it like soccer and track and field, but all of St. Anne athletics.

He noted St. Anne’s elementary schools and other surrounding grade schools will be able to benefit, as well as youth recreational leagues.

“It certainly coincides with football, but we’re a small community — we share a lot of responsibilities in things and help each other out,” O’Brien said. “... It truly provides a complex that can be used in so many facets.”

At the high school level, the new facility will also host the school’s co-ed soccer team and the boys and girls track and field teams, and will also be a place for other sports like baseball and softball to practice.

<strong>TURF IS TOUGH</strong>

With O’Brien noting that it would have been virtually impossible for the football and soccer teams to play on the same grass field in the fall, Neal Buck, who coaches soccer and track and field at St. Anne, said he and Rood have already began communications to make the most efficient use of the facilities as possible.

“Bringing in a turf field will allow us to play and practice soccer in conditions that would normally tear up the field,” Buck said. “Coach Rood and I have already been talking about sharing the facility and working together to make sure that all of our athletes in the fall benefit from the new facility.

“He and I are both committed to ensuring that both teams continue to grow and have success, and he has been a huge benefit to our athletes through the strength and conditioning program.”

While Buck’s soccer players are excited for the details such as a new locker room and technological upgrades that will allow their games to be live-streamed and have their starting lineups announced, the track and field team will be the ones having to adjust around construction this season.

But it’s definitely something they’re willing to work around.

“While we recognize that we are going to have to be flexible and make adjustments this season to work around construction, we are excited to have the best track facility in the [River Valley] Conference and look forward to hosting several meets in the future,” Buck said. “This new facility is going to allow the track team to continue to grow and develop better athletes for our other athletic programs.”

<strong>‘READY FOR IT’</strong>

While Buck and the programs he leads will look to continue their successes on a new facility, Rood and the football program are just starting to put the pieces in place for their new foundation with an offseason weightlifting program for St. Anne students who don’t play a spring sport.

“It’s a step-by-step process,” Rood said. “We don’t know much, but what do you do in football? You block, you tackle and you hold on to the football.

“If we can do all three of those things, we’re going to be as successful as we can be.”

Davis, an all-conference basketball player this winter, is excited to see if his athletic prowess can find equal success on the gridiron.

“I’m ready for it,” Davis said. “Hopefully, I love it as much as I love basketball, but I’m just ready to get into it.”

Nugent Construction and AGM Architects are working on the project. The school board approved the construction for the facility, which includes the field turf multi-purpose field, the track and facilities, at the Dec. 14 board meeting for $5.29 million. The project is expected to be completed ahead of the football and soccer seasons in August.