Part of our holiday has been Kaitlin showing me around her old haunts. Bethel High School in Spanaway, Washington, was where she went to high school, and something that has always fascinated me about American culture is the incredible emphasis placed on high school sports. As a result, Bethel High School, despite having an enrolment of around 1,700 students, has a stadium with a maximum capacity of 3,500. Art Crate Field is that stadium.
The stadium is an impressive multi-purpose facility with two large seated, cantilever roofed, stands, concession stands and a huge scoreboard. The synthetic turf pitch, able to hold football, American football and lacrosse is surrounded by a full size 8 lane running track. There is an impressive electronic scoreboard at one end of the pitch. Facilities like this aren’t unusual in American high schools, which is mind boggling to me.
Bethel (known as the Braves) play in the South Division of the 4A South Puget Sound league in Washington’s West Central District. 4A is the highest classification in Washington High School sports. League winners compete in a state wide tournament at the end of each season to determine a State Champion. Bethel were boy’s basketball champions in 2005 and Kaitlin played clarinet in their pep band at the game! Mike Blowers, who had a ten year career in Major League Baseball, Caesar Rayford, who played for the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL, former UFC fighter Rick Story and 1990 Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope are Bethel alumni.
Several other local schools also use the facilities, seen as the jewel of the crown in the Bethel School District. The stadium is named after Art Crate, who was an important figure in the early days of the Bethel School District.
Pies on the Terraces 