Two T.C. Williams Titan teams opened their home seasons in style, last Thursday, showing off their new facilities with wins. The volleyball team defeated Falls Church, 3-0, and the field hockey team vanquished Washington and Lee by the same score.

The home volleyball game was unexpected, originally scheduled to be played at Falls Church.

Nonetheless, a surprising number of fans came out to get their first look at the new T.C. Williams High School and to cheer the girls on to victory.

The red, white and blue gym is enormous, compared to The Garden in the old facility. There are three full-size playing courts; blue bleachers that are a vast improvement over the old wooden ones in the old gym. The white walls, with their red panels complement the red, white and blue ceiling. 

We love the gym, said Head Volleyball Coach Rhea Butler. Weve been able to practice here since almost the beginning of try-outs and it is such an improvement over what we had. The locker rooms are great and we even have a team room where we can hold meetings. Our new pole system is fantastic. We love it.

Artificial turf
Just north of T.C., on Braddock Road, the field hockey team showed off their new artificial turf field. There are some field hockey teams who play an occasional game on an artificial field but we are the first in the Patriot District to have one as our permanent home field, said Head Coach Bob Eavenson.

The field cost just under $1 million and was a joint venture between the citys Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Activities and the school system. It has a drainage system that will allow us to play games here almost immediately after even very heavy rains, Eavenson said. The only thing that would cause us to cancel a game is lightning.

The girls liked their new field as well, although they had not had the opportunity to practice on it as it was just finished days before their home opener.

It was a little hard to get used to at first but I really like it, said Linzi Burstein, a mid-fielder on the varsity team. The ball does behave differently so its going to take a while to get used to that but I think its better than the grass field.

The football field at T.C. Williams will have artificial turf as will others throughout the city but the field at Minnie Howard is the first. It is lined for field hockey, soccer and lacrosse and will be home to the Titan lacrosse team in the spring.