New turf football field coming to Humboldt Park: 'It's gonna be priceless'

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A new football field is coming to Humboldt Park. It will be the first and only-turf field in the neighborhood.

A new field is more than just a state-of-the-art place to compete for the Humboldt Park Patriots, but it's something that's opening the door for dreams to become a reality.

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"I wanted to tryout, and once I tried, it made me feel confident about playing," Patriots football player Khalila Ascencio said.

Her confidence is about to get a major boost.

The Humboldt Park Patriot and her nearly 100 other teammates will soon have a field to call their own for the first time in over two decades.

"We were affiliated with two teams here that had a football field behind the baseball cages over there, which is our practice field now," said Patrick Murray, Humboldt Park Patriots president and coach.

Murray said the patriots are typically practicing and competing on makeshift baseball fields, often only seeing a state-of-the-art field when they play away games out in the suburbs.

"Seeing our players go to suburb schools and seeing their faces on how you know the big stadiums are, and we don't have that here, and just that feeling that they're gonna get when they see their own field here at home is, it's gonna be priceless," parent and board member Joyce Quezada said.

Now with the help of the community, the vision is coming to life. They are expected to break ground later this summer near the Humboldt Park boathouse, with new turf, goalposts, updated sidelines and safe spectator areas.

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"I was having a hard time finding a program that would take my son, you know, he is a bigger child," Quezada said. "As Hispanics, we're all different sizes. So that was a big thing for me, that they were willing to accept my son the way he is."

Parents and players say that's what makes this place different..

"No kid gets turned down, whether it's financial or behavior will rejuvenate a child," Murray said. "But no, no kid gets turned."

There is a place for everyone who will be welcomed onto a new field on the way.

"We haven't had a field in so long so we deserve it," Patriots football player Nicholas Ascencio said.

The new football field is expected to be ready by next fall.

"We're waiting for that big light moment when we just see them come out and they know that this is ours," Murray said.