Cullen Fields give students a place to compete in intramural activities. | Katrina Madrinan/The Cougar
With the reopening of Cullen Fields Monday, students have an improved space for intramural activities. The blueprint for field renovations has been in place for three years.
Intramural Sports Assistant Director Brian Mills said roughly $1.5 million was spent to improve the fields, with funding coming from student fees.
“We will be able to line our four flag football fields or two regulation soccer fields,” said Campus Recreation Director Clark. “These field improvements will have a positive impact on student life.”
Clark said it was important to give the students on campus more opportunities for constructive activities.
“Not having a lit safe space at night definitely hinders their ability to go out and recreate and relieve stress through intramurals,” Clark said.
Though the renovations have been on the table for three years, problems persisted long before that. UH alumnus Anthony Husle was praised for his advocacy by Clark in the opening speech.
“I’ve been here for six years,” Husle said. “My supervisors and I at the time put together a Facebook group called ‘Save Cullen Fields’ and got over 6,000 people stating the importance of why we needed these fields for recreation.”
The poor conditions of the field forced intramural teams to play on the weekends.
“The field space we had didn’t have a high enough quality and put students at risk to be subject to injuries,” Clark said. “While this renovation doesn’t increase field space, it improves the quality of the space.”
Although the renovated space is an improvement, UH lags behind other Texas schools in terms of how many fields it has.
“Texas A&M has 18 fields — some with turf — and I know the University of Texas (at Austin) has 24,” Mills said. “We’re still woefully behind a vast majority of big schools in the state of Texas amenities-wise as well.”
