League City Sports Complex

Rain Bird System Provides Home Field Advantage for League City

The new League City Sportsplex has scored success within the growing Texas League City community thanks to the hard work and creativity of many individuals and the value of Rain Bird. Today, 19 athletic fields on more than 30 acres have replaced former rice fields and small areas of wetlands.

“The fields are almost constantly in use, year-round,” said Rusty Bolen, the Sportsplex maintenance supervisor. Programs range from city and community Little League, youth football, ASA girls softball, and youth soccer to winter flag football and summer volleyball.

The sports complex, which opened in March of 1998, includes a total of ten baseball fields, seven soccer fields, one regulation football field (or two smaller fields) and six sand volleyball courts as well as batting cages.

Rain Bird Is the Winning Choice

Planning for the sports complex began in 1997. The irrigation system for the League City Sportsplex was originally specified with a competitor’s products. However, when contractor Jeff Lord of Irrigation Concepts began reworking the design and reviewing the budget, he saw a better option. He and distributor John O’Donnell of AMC Industries compared the competitor’s components to Rain Bird’s components and found Rain Bird was a more cost-effective option.

With more than 630 rotors and almost 85 zones, the Sportsplex was the largest job Lord had handled to date. The massiveness of the site and sheer number of heads was a challenge, according to O’Donnell.

“Rain Bird gave us good service which allowed us, in turn, to give League City good service,” said Lord.
To keep the athletic fields lush, Lord chose Rain Bird Falcon rotors.

“The Falcon rotor’s water distribution pattern was outstanding,” he explained. “Close-in watering was just as good as watering 60 feet away.” The Falcon rotor uses three orifices to ensure this uniform distribution for long-, mid-, and close-in watering.

“The distribution pattern that the Falcon has is superior to other heads…It does a great job,” added O’Donnell.

The Falcon rotor’s patented Rain Curtain™ nozzles produce large water droplets that minimize the effects of wind and reduce misting for superior coverage and water savings. Lord also liked the small diameter of Falcon rotor head and rubber covers to prevent injury.

Lord installed 84 PGA two-inch electric remote control valves throughout the site. The PGA valves, made of durable PVC, offer a globe/angle configuration for greater flexibility in design and installation. Rain Bird 44RC quick-couplers were also specified for every field.

Taking Control with Rain Bird

To control the system, four ESP-MC controllers offer four independent programs with eight start times each. The controllers can easily be upgraded to Maxicom2 Central Control, which is an addition the Sportsplex is planning in the future.

The ESP-MC controllers’ Cycle+Soak™ feature, which allows station run times to be split to minimize puddling and runoff, was important for the Sportsplex, where sandy and clay soils are prone to runoff, according to Bolen.

The controller’s testing program has made it easy to test problems with heads, make adjustments or manually inspect the system from the controller by turning on one station at a time, explained the maintenance supervisor.

“The system has cut my maintenance time in half,” he said.

The site uses water from a well, drawn into a 40,000-gallon tank and supplemented
by city water.

Lord tied into an existing four-inch main line that looped through the Sportsplex. To fit the unusually thick C900 PVC material, Lord had to use special, large metal fittings with thrust blocks behind them. The irrigation system took about two months to complete.

Every zone at the Sportsplex is watered at least 10-15 minutes each night, depending on the weather, according to Bolen. During dry conditions, he also runs the system during the day to keep fields moist.
The system exceeds expectations, according to Bolen. I am finding new ways to use the controllers each day, especially with rain delays,” said Bolen.

“The fields look great. They even looked great over winter when rye was planted in them,” said O’Donnell.

Future System Expansion

Bolen hopes to expand the system to cover areas beyond the playing fields. When the Sportsplex adds Maxicom2 Central Control in the future, Bolen plans to use the system to control the ball field lights as well. He’s also considering a liquid fertilization, which he would inject into the irrigation system, to further reduce maintenance hours.

As far as Bolen is concerned, the League City Sportsplex fields already hold a winner - Rain Bird. “The system, all together, is great.”