Sports Field Shortage Scuffs Youth Dreams

By STEPHEN HAMMILL The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jul 31, 2007

TAMPA - During Little League season, 6-year-olds sometimes play tee-ball at 9 p.m.

Soccer players occasionally practice in dried-out retention ponds, and at one park 2,100 children on 60 teams compete for playing time on two fields.

Throughout Hillsborough County the same problem crops up: Green fields are hard to come by.

The shortage of athletic fields is severe, say county officials, players and parents, and with countywide budget cuts looming, additional hardship is possible.

Mark Thornton has been director of the Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department for 20 months. In that time, he said, "there hasn't been a day I've come to work where we haven't had complaints over space issues."

Budget cuts mean fewer maintenance workers available for field upkeep, a crucial factor when games go from dawn until well past dusk, tearing up the grass.

There are 200 athletic facilities throughout the county; 46 of them are soccer fields. The parks department, in planning for the future, is focusing on sports that could benefit the most people.

"Soccer is the worst in need, followed by football and baseball," Thornton said.

Some of the county's soccer and baseball fields are at 200 percent of their planned capacity, he said.

A few football fields exceed even that figure. Countywide, football ranks behind soccer in overuse, but the two youth football fields at Skyway Sports Complex in Town 'N Country are used by almost four times the number of people for which they were designed.

Ideally, the county tries to keep field capacities at 80 percent, to compensate for rainouts. Recently, attaining that goal has been impossible.

Overuse Squeezes Practice Time

According to figures released in May, field capacities are stretched thin in most of Hillsborough. Youth baseball facilities are at 93 percent capacity, softball fields are beyond 100 percent, football fields are at 113 percent and soccer fields are at 153 percent capacity. That means people playing games at night, fields spilt in two to accommodate teams, and children playing at odd hours.

"We've had tee-ball teams playing 9 o'clock games," Thornton said. "You don't want a 6-year-old to play at night, but that's happening."

The field-use figures don't take into account the availability of space for practices.

"What I've seen over the 25 years I've been doing this is you'll have a whole lot of kids sign up, but if they're not getting the practice time they need, they're bound to drop out over time," Thornton said.

It's not just children who miss out. Adult soccer leagues are on the rise throughout the county. Field space shortages have forced some Hillsborough County teams to play in dry or damp retention ponds and in dirt parking lots.

"There's definitely a shortage of fields in the area, most importantly those available to adults," said Chris Giebner, owner of Tampa Bay Club Sport, the area's largest provider of social sports leagues, which include flag football, soccer, softball and kickball.

Leasing fields is tough. Every year Giebner fights for space with other organizations.

Since 2004 the county has invested $60 million in development of athletics facilities. The operating budget for such programs has doubled since 2000. Still, Thornton says, it's an uphill battle meeting demand in burgeoning areas.

Poor Field Conditions

Despite the demand for playing fields, sometimes fields sit empty because they are not in playable condition.

Overuse is as pressing an issue as overcrowding. Repair bills for chewed-up fields are becoming less palatable for local government officials as they ponder ways to save money.

The Ed Radice athletic complex in northwest Hillsborough is home of Keystone Little League and Hillsborough County United soccer club. Keystone Little League has more than 1,000 players. More than 2,000 children play soccer on nine fields, which are at 231 percent capacity. The county this summer replaced sod on the soccer fields because of extensive wear.

At Shimberg Field, 7022 Soccer Ave., maintenance crews planted new sod last season to keep the fields playable for soccer. Complaints from players persisted.

Tampa Bay Youth Football League President Scott Levinson said the league wrestles with finances.

"There are not enough funds," he said. "The county needs to give a little more, but the leagues need to do their part, too."

Levinson struck a deal with the county last year for new goal posts for the two fields at Skyway Sports Complex. The league paid $5,000 for a pair and the county matched that commitment.

The league is spending $15,000 this year to plant new grass at Skyway before the football season. Its funding comes mostly from sponsorships: selling banners, fence signs and Web site space.

"We beg, borrow, cheat and steal - whatever we can do to make it a good place for our kids," Levinson said.

Plans To Build On Hold

With county officials poised to trim more spending, the challenge to pay for recreation facilities likely will intensify. Accommodating growth is less of an immediate concern than sustaining what exists.

"With the budget issues I don't really know where we're going," Thornton said. "It's a major issue for us here. I deal with it every day. It's critical for us."

Budget cuts next year will eliminate 58 full-time positions in parks and recreation. Thornton is looking for additional ways to save money. For example: Umpires who work part-time for the county will be reclassified as contract workers, and responsibility for field maintenance will shift from the county to the independently operated leagues.

About 75 percent of the county's fields now are maintained by the leagues themselves. The larger complexes, such as Ed Radice, are maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department.

The cost shift from the county to the users will force leagues to take on the burden in maintenance costs on all current and future parks.

As for construction of new facilities, county officials have postponed indefinitely their plan to build 24 more athletic fields.

Thornton said he hopes some relief eventually will come from Championship Park, a planned sports complex north of Plant City that would have 30 multipurpose fields.

The project's $40 million cost would come from the Community Investment Tax. Commissioner Jim Norman, the project's sponsor, has maintained the complex would bring in money from national tournaments and perhaps from a Major League Baseball team using the site for spring training.

Plans for the park remain under study and have not been approved.

Reporter Stephen Hammill can be reached at (813) 865-1523 or

shammill@tampatrib.com.