New bleachers at SWV ball field
Thu, 07/17/2025 - 2:01pm
admin
Nick Johansen
The Southwest Valley School District is enjoying a recent renovation that was completed just in time for summer sports.
SWV preK-eight grade principal Liz Timmerman said the school now has brand new bleachers at the middle school baseball field in Villisca. Timmerman said the existing home game bleachers were definitely in need of an upgrade.
“The bleachers we had were wood, and they’ve been here longer than I’ve been in the district. The wood was on concrete pillars and with those we knew that the concrete was strong and was not going to go away. We had good foundation but the wooden bleachers themselves were just maintenance all the time, especially because they’re located underneath trees,” explained Timmerman. “Because of that location, I think a lot of the problem was moisture and wetness so we needed to update to something that was easier to maintain and stay around. With officials at the Corning buildings redoing their baseball and softball fields, we felt it would be nice for our middle school players have some updates too.
as well.”
Timmerman said it was about a year ago that the district started making moves to begin the renovation proces
“The Villisca Alumni and Friends Association had the same thoughts that we did, and they actually brought it up to me that the bleachers could use some work, So to fund the renovation, we received a grant from the Montgomery County Community Foundation, Villisca Alumni and Friends Association and then we actually had a donation from Bank Iowa as well. It took a lot of community donors in order to do it. It was well over a $10,000 dollar project,” advised Timmerman. “For a district our size to be able to put that into a middle school facility is difficult but definitely having some of those resources around helped us do that.”
The decision to start with the baseball field over the softball field for renovations was based on the available foundation.
“These home bleachers have a solid base, and we knew if we could get something on it, it was going to stay. The softball field doesn’t really have bleachers up there that are that solid. We’ve been working on ways to powder coat them or give them something else that will help them last a little bit longer. They’re mobile so it’s a little bit different to renovate them. Building bleachers from ground up is way more expensive so we’re trying to look at phases of what we want to do with the softball bleachers now,” stated Timmerman.
The work itself was tackled by American Bleachers of Eastern Iowa. Timmerman was impressed with the speed of the project.
“It took them probably three days from start to finish; it was pretty amazing. They cleared everything off, and then they came back and within two days they had the bleachers on and then the gate and the fencing around it also took another day. They were pretty impressed with the stability we had underneath. They did have to add an extra support in between because our span was a little bit too long. We sent them the blueprints ahead of time so they could know what they were working with when they come in and they did a fantastic job,” said Timmerman. “The new bleachers are aluminum and they have a lifetime guarantee I believe.”
Timmerman said it was thanks to the support from the area organizations that the project became a reality.
“Without that help, these renovations would have been pretty much impossible because our middle school baseball and softball doesn’t charge gate fees. Attendance is more limited because we play midday 10 o’clock games. However, we really do appreciate the community support and the parents who are available to show up to our district. We try to take care of our umpires that we have to pay and then our concession stand is run by individuals in the community as well. Our Villisca middle school sports fund kind of runs a little bit low especially during the summertime so it’s hard to do updates like these. When we reach out and we have community members that help, it’s very much appreciated and we’re very grateful for it.”
Now that the home field bleachers on the baseball side are completed, Timmerman said they’re examining the next phase for upgrades.
“Next phase is possibly going to be the visitor side of the baseball field. We did replace some of the boards, and they have the same concrete pillars underneath that the bleachers on the home field side have. Also, going back to the softball field, we need to figure out what we want to do, whether that’s build something a little bit more permanent. One benefit is that a lot of people bring their chairs and things like that to the games too. Where our softball field is located you can sit in between both fields so that is kind of nice. They can watch baseball and softball at the same time since it’s up on the hill. I think we may lean towards updating the visitor bleachers since it’s easier to update with a permanent structure in place,” Timmerman said.
Now that the upgrade has been made, Timmerman said the feedback from parents has been very positive.
“The parents appreciate it as well as the community members and I think being able to have community baseball games here is just something for our Villisca community to be proud of. A lot of times small towns have some rundown facilities and we don’t want that to happen here. In addition to the kids, we also have community members that come in and use it so we were happy that we could update it and keep the facilities looking nice,” explained Timmerman.
Timmerman added they will once again seek out donors when they are ready to make the next phase a reality.
“The Villisca Alumni and Friends Association have said they would like to help again. Trying to make the renovations all at once is kind of hard and the cost up front is a lot but if we can keep doing it in phases it certainly helps to spread it out,” Timmerman stated.
Timmerman once again expressed her appreciation to the community for the support and is very happy the district is still able to field middle school baseball and softball games this year.
“Our numbers are not large. We have about 12 baseball players; we have 18 softball players; but we’ve got some diehard baseball and softball players so it’s nice to keep the facilities up for them when they’re in middle school and then once they get to high school they kind of have to choose what they want their summer to be like but at least we can provide the opportunity at the middle school,” advised Timmerman.
If anyone wants to make a personal donation to assist in the additional phases, they are welcome to.
“Just contact us at the middle school at 826-2552. Jessie Forsythe is our business officer and she does a fantastic job of working the books and seeing what we can do and then we have a new superintendent this year Mr. Joe Erickson. He is going to be very willing to take any of those questions,” said Timmerman. “If anybody that wants to make a donation or any company out there does, we would greatly appreciate it for our young people.”
Timmerman said it was about a year ago that the district started making moves to begin the renovation proces
“The Villisca Alumni and Friends Association had the same thoughts that we did, and they actually brought it up to me that the bleachers could use some work, So to fund the renovation, we received a grant from the Montgomery County Community Foundation, Villisca Alumni and Friends Association and then we actually had a donation from Bank Iowa as well. It took a lot of community donors in order to do it. It was well over a $10,000 dollar project,” advised Timmerman. “For a district our size to be able to put that into a middle school facility is difficult but definitely having some of those resources around helped us do that.”
The decision to start with the baseball field over the softball field for renovations was based on the available foundation.
“These home bleachers have a solid base, and we knew if we could get something on it, it was going to stay. The softball field doesn’t really have bleachers up there that are that solid. We’ve been working on ways to powder coat them or give them something else that will help them last a little bit longer. They’re mobile so it’s a little bit different to renovate them. Building bleachers from ground up is way more expensive so we’re trying to look at phases of what we want to do with the softball bleachers now,” stated Timmerman.
The work itself was tackled by American Bleachers of Eastern Iowa. Timmerman was impressed with the speed of the project.
“It took them probably three days from start to finish; it was pretty amazing. They cleared everything off, and then they came back and within two days they had the bleachers on and then the gate and the fencing around it also took another day. They were pretty impressed with the stability we had underneath. They did have to add an extra support in between because our span was a little bit too long. We sent them the blueprints ahead of time so they could know what they were working with when they come in and they did a fantastic job,” said Timmerman. “The new bleachers are aluminum and they have a lifetime guarantee I believe.”
Timmerman said it was thanks to the support from the area organizations that the project became a reality.
“Without that help, these renovations would have been pretty much impossible because our middle school baseball and softball doesn’t charge gate fees. Attendance is more limited because we play midday 10 o’clock games. However, we really do appreciate the community support and the parents who are available to show up to our district. We try to take care of our umpires that we have to pay and then our concession stand is run by individuals in the community as well. Our Villisca middle school sports fund kind of runs a little bit low especially during the summertime so it’s hard to do updates like these. When we reach out and we have community members that help, it’s very much appreciated and we’re very grateful for it.”
Now that the home field bleachers on the baseball side are completed, Timmerman said they’re examining the next phase for upgrades.
“Next phase is possibly going to be the visitor side of the baseball field. We did replace some of the boards, and they have the same concrete pillars underneath that the bleachers on the home field side have. Also, going back to the softball field, we need to figure out what we want to do, whether that’s build something a little bit more permanent. One benefit is that a lot of people bring their chairs and things like that to the games too. Where our softball field is located you can sit in between both fields so that is kind of nice. They can watch baseball and softball at the same time since it’s up on the hill. I think we may lean towards updating the visitor bleachers since it’s easier to update with a permanent structure in place,” Timmerman said.
Now that the upgrade has been made, Timmerman said the feedback from parents has been very positive.
“The parents appreciate it as well as the community members and I think being able to have community baseball games here is just something for our Villisca community to be proud of. A lot of times small towns have some rundown facilities and we don’t want that to happen here. In addition to the kids, we also have community members that come in and use it so we were happy that we could update it and keep the facilities looking nice,” explained Timmerman.
Timmerman added they will once again seek out donors when they are ready to make the next phase a reality.
“The Villisca Alumni and Friends Association have said they would like to help again. Trying to make the renovations all at once is kind of hard and the cost up front is a lot but if we can keep doing it in phases it certainly helps to spread it out,” Timmerman stated.
Timmerman once again expressed her appreciation to the community for the support and is very happy the district is still able to field middle school baseball and softball games this year.
“Our numbers are not large. We have about 12 baseball players; we have 18 softball players; but we’ve got some diehard baseball and softball players so it’s nice to keep the facilities up for them when they’re in middle school and then once they get to high school they kind of have to choose what they want their summer to be like but at least we can provide the opportunity at the middle school,” advised Timmerman.
If anyone wants to make a personal donation to assist in the additional phases, they are welcome to.
“Just contact us at the middle school at 826-2552. Jessie Forsythe is our business officer and she does a fantastic job of working the books and seeing what we can do and then we have a new superintendent this year Mr. Joe Erickson. He is going to be very willing to take any of those questions,” said Timmerman. “If anybody that wants to make a donation or any company out there does, we would greatly appreciate it for our young people.”