The Evolution of the Robins Campus

    Mark Chambers, Collegiate’s long-time field and equipment coordinator, remembers well.
    He remembers when the roads were nothing more than rustic gravel paths and cars parked pretty much wherever their drivers left them.
    He remembers when a small, drafty pavilion provided shelter from inclement weather and a cramped storage shed housed both athletic gear and maintenance vehicles.
    He remembers when even a moderate wind would stir up a tidal wave of dust that resembled a desert sandstorm.
    And he remembers the geese.  
    How could he ever forget those feisty, emboldened Canada geese?
    On any given day, they descended in droves 150 to 200 strong, and that’s no exaggeration.
    They feasted upon freshly strewn grass seed and left their – how can I say this delicately? – untidy marks all over the fields.
    From time to time, Chambers and athletic director Charlie McFall hustled them away by driving the Gator in their direction, but they flew only to the cemetery on the adjoining property, then returned when the humans turned their backs.
    “Caring for Robins was definitely a task,” said Chambers, who came on board in 1999.
    “We did a lot of rock and stick pickup."    
    “Lining the fields wasn’t easy because paint doesn’t stick to dirt.
    “What we have now has been a long time coming.  It’s gorgeous now.”
    Maintaining the 177-acre tract, 67 of which is developed, presents challenges, of course, but nothing like those of a decade ago.
    The roads are paved.  Parking is plentiful.
    The sports performance center is state-of-the-art and spacious.
    The natural fields, long since sodded and top-dressed, are lush, green, and nothing like the sponges and ankle-turners of the early years.
    The hockey/lacrosse venue has a synthetic FieldTurf surface.
    The Sam Newell Field (baseball), the adjoining softball stadium, and the soccer complex on the once obscure southwest corner of the property are stunning.
    And the Canada geese?  A few drift in from time to time, but the deer, turkeys, and other wildlife that grace the woods and fields when the afternoon activity has wound to a close far outnumber them.
    Just as they did in the early days, Jesse Garrant and Arthur Johnson handle field maintenance on a regular basis.
    Tito Fortis joined the crew a couple of years back.
    Chambers and his colleagues – Chris Williams, Andrew Slater, and Sonny Tate – begin preparing for the fall season during the summer and, save for a month or so during the winter, spend most of their waking hours at the site now known simply as “Robins.”
    “We start lining for the fall in the middle of July,” Chambers said.  “Then, we go over top of them to make sure everything’s right, all the goals are set, and all the nets are on.
    “We re-measure a lot because we shift fields left and right to stay out of the same spots all the time.
    “We have corner blocks to measure the biggest field that we can have, then measure from there, restring, and walk every line.
    “We make sure everything’s just right.”
    Chambers has been around sports his entire life.  His dad Bill was a long-time Collegiate coach and physical education teacher.  
    One of four brothers, Chambers was a standout basketball and baseball player at Midlothian High School and was first team All-Metro catcher in 1986 and 1987.
    He played baseball at Mt. Olive (NC) College, then spent four years as director of the Boys and Girls Club in Mt. Olive, then three more as a courier with James River Runners before joining the staff at Collegiate.
    Just as he did when he was a competitive athlete, Chambers brings a sense of pride to his job, just as his colleagues do.
    “Every field, every gym, everything that we do, we strive for 100 percent,” he said.
    “It makes you feel good when people go, ‘Wow! These fields look great. The lines are bright and straight.’
    “Out in Goochland, everything needs to look like a palace.  It’s one of our pride places.
    “We want to make sure it looks immaculate.”
                                -- Weldon Bradshaw