Students at Ecole Itlo are no strangers to a game of soccer. But playing one on an actual pitch might take some getting used to.

The school celebrated the unveiling of its brand new outdoor soccer field on Friday. It replaces the sand pit where kids were playing before and comes with painted lines, new netting and a distinct less amount of sand flying in the air.

Heidi Boudreau, the school's principal, described the makeover as a game changer.

"It's very nice to have people come together and do something for our community and for our students, so it's a feeling of gratitude and it's a feeling of thankfulness that we have for our contributors that came and put the pitch together," she said.

Diavik Diamond Mine helped out with the costs by donating $25,000.

"It's something that's going to last here a long time and that's really what we want to see," said Gord Stephenson, one of the mine's managers.

For Stephenson, the donation also hits close to home as a former student at Ecole Itlo between Grades 4 and 6 and that it feels amazing to be back. His daughter, Ellie, is now in Grade 5 at the school.

Stephenson added that it only took a matter of days to assemble the pitch, but the entire timeline before that stretches back much farther. 

Boudreau said that getting the field has been in the pipeline since April 2023 and now that it's here, the pitch serves more than just the students, but the broader community that surrounds the neighbourhood as well, she explained.

"It's really during the busy during the weekends and the evenings, so you have junior high school students coming and using it and neighbourhood community kids coming to use it as well," she said.

And there's no trouble with that, so long as everyone respects the pitch, she added.