Jim Wolf captained the 2000 Staples High School boys soccer team. He now serves as president of the Westport Soccer Association, and is a member of the Staples Boys Soccer Foundation.
As discussions continue about athletic fields and artificial turf, he writes:
My wife Lizzie and I both graduated from Staples in 2001. We quickly and enthusiastically moved back to our hometown from New York City after our third child was born. We have 3 children at Greens Farms Elementary School.
Similar to other youth organizations in town, participation levels for the WSA have increased significantly in the post-COVID years. Our enrollment has grown more than 30% compared to 2020.
This spring we are fielding 33 travel teams. We anticipate that number to increase as the current pre-K and rec players filter up into the travel program.
Each additional travel team requires an incremental 4 to 5 hours of field time per week. There was not capacity for this growth even before the Long Lots fields were taken offline.
Other town youth sports and high school programs are seeing similar enrollment increases. The existing grass fields have become over-utilized and unrested, and significantly deteriorated in quality.
Put plainly, and as many are aware, the current field inventory in Westport is inadequate. Player safety, given field conditions, is increasingly concerning.
Lower soccer fields at Long Lots Elementary School will soon be closed.
At this point, many Westport kids unfortunately will not be able to participate. Our young athletes are at risk of missing out on the numerous developmental benefits of youth athletics.
Based on the studies presented during the Long Lots construction discussions, it is understood that there are limited opportunities to create new fields in Westport, and maintaining the existing over-utilized grass fields requires more financial resources.
The community desperately needs new investment in the fields. Lighting and artificial surfaces are both reasonable and actionable solutions.
The limited budget allocated to fields to date has resulted in the WSA and other youth programs paying a meaningful per player fee to generate incremental revenue to invest in the existing fields.
Poor condition of Wakeman grass field (lower portion of photo) can be seen from the air.
This was not ideal for our families. But we stressed the importance of the supplemental funding, and the parent community has been willing to do their part for the kids.
Given the availability and quality of the grass fields, turfing in the safest way, using the newest products available must not only be considered, but expedited. The kids and the broader community cannot afford to have an RTM ruling or process that slows down progress.
All opportunities to expand field capacity and improve quality (ranging from lighting to irrigation to resting) should be quickly acted upon. Any ordinance that limits optionality or speed of development would be incredibly unfortunate. We are already years behind other communities on this.
How hard is it to resolve to improve fields for Westport’s kids in the safest way possible?
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