Since its inception in 1960, Terra Linda’s field has never been lit up by lights, and no one knows why. Other schools in Marin like San Rafael and San Marin have their own floodlights. Due to the lack of lights, the TL football team has to play their home games at a different location which takes away from that “Friday Night Lights Feeling”. Leisman Vazquez, a kicker for the Terra Linda Varsity Football team states, “The team can’t have our night games at TL, they always have to be at other schools, so even our home games are away, it doesn’t have the same feeling.”
“Lights would benefit a lot of the sports teams at TL so it is a good investment for the school,” Vazquez adds. The lighting issue also continues to have an effect on our winter and spring sports that take place after the football season ends. For example, both the Terra Linda Soccer teams and Lacrosse teams cannot play night games at their home fields. This can be exceptionally difficult since there is such little daylight during that time of year. Rodrigo Cifuentes, a member of Terra Linda Varsity Soccer says, “Since the sun comes down so early in the winter, we don’t have a lot of time to practice.” He also adds, “It can be a disadvantage for us because teams like San Marin and San Rafael can train without any time constraints.”
There has to be an underlying reason that is getting in the way of those shiny, bright lights. Steve Farbstein, Terra Linda’s athletic director adds, “When our stadium was first built, the neighborhood adjacent to the field hadn’t been added yet, though when proposals came up to add lights the neighbors weren’t for it.” He also said, “Anything’s a possibility but moving forward, there currently aren’t any plans to install lights.”
TL resident Ms. Zimmerman commented, “In the time that I’ve lived here, I haven’t seen or heard of any proposals regarding the installation of lights.” She continues, “Truthfully, I wouldn’t be for it.” She explains, “I have a feeling that the lights would significantly increase the light pollution in the area which is personally my main concern, and if the lights spilled over into my yard, well I really wouldn’t like that either.”
Although lights being installed aren’t something up and coming in the near future, we can always hope that one day Terra Linda’s field will be lit up!
