A West Virginia high school is working to repair the school's soccer field after a sinkhole appeared following a recent rain storm.
Head coach Chris Railey told WSAZ that one of his players alerted him to the problem.
“He messaged me and said, ‘Hey coach, have you seen the hole in our field?’ ", Railey said.
Spring Valley High Athletic Director Tim George said the field often floods due to a drainage issue, noting that the drain pipe was either totally blocked or ruptured.
George said the pipe needed to be replaced, and the problem got worse when digging to find it.
“It was a little deeper than we expected. We were hoping that it might be eight or 10 feet deep, and that’s caused some more issues,” George said.
Girl’s Soccer Coach Jim Hodge said, “Once we found out that it’s about 20 feet deep and it’s not quite as simple as we thought originally, then that’s when it’s become a little bit more stressful.”
Hodge said he's happy the sinkhole was found sooner rather than later.
“We’re absolutely blessed that it happened when it did, you know our season just ended last year in October, so this happened three months after the season.”
Spring Valley still has a practice field that both teams can use.
“Everybody here at Spring Valley and the entire community, we wouldn’t have to worry about it because people would step up and we would always have a place to play,” Hodge said.
Wayne County Schools Superintendent Todd Alexander said they’re working with a contractor and the state Division of Highways (DOH) to repair the field, plant grass and make sure it’s ready for the fall.
