Finding Fields!!

[sweeper16]

So yesterday at our 'practice' practice being, someone drove around a few weeks ago, after the took the nets down at the last field we were at, and found a field that had nets and no baseball going on at the time we wanted a practice (but no lights however)
Unfortunately, we were informed last night that the District of Maple Ridge has closed down all the 'game fields' and we are no longer allowed to practice on them. At the present time there are 5 fields that have lights, 4 of them being gravel and being shared by about 25 other teams. the other field is a turf field, which, i was told. we were allocated 1 hour of time per week on it last year, and right now, i beileve we can't book it.
Most fields have no lights and, if we are lucky, they will have nets.
I am just trying to see if other teams in other districts have the same problem we have.
I was advised to write letters to the mayor and counsellors of the city and to the parks and rec people. I am just trying to gather what information I can about other places and their field allocation.
so that I can send an informed letter.
I also have discovered that we pay the most in user fees for the fields, yet, we get the least time and the least priority for the fields. I was just told last night (after a conversation with our co-ordinator, after we were told we weren't allowed to practise..okay, a rather cranky conversation!!) that we will not get practice field allocation until about Thanksgiving.
That is such a bunch of crap!!!!

So any input about how you get fields for practices and games would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!!

 

[cside17]

Move to the North Shore and pay $28 an hour! Oh wait you won't meet our residency rules.....


csideoutforafewcoronasfor7days

 

[Captain Shamrock]

So yesterday at our 'practice' practice being, someone drove around a few weeks ago, after the took the nets down at the last field we were at, and found a field that had nets and no baseball going on at the time we wanted a practice (but no lights however)

Once I understand this, I will see if I can come up with some solutions. However, we had our first game postponed last week due to lack of fields in Richmond apparently, so I might not be any help after all.



Hookedonphonics CSC

 

[bravedart]

At the present time there are 5 fields that have lights, 4 of them being gravel and being shared by about 25 other teams. the other field is a turf field,

I am not sure what the problem is here. To have 26 teams sharing 5 fields for 5 hours a day 5 days a week should give you ample time for you practices. Granted, you may not have the ideal time that you want but with the low number of teams sharing the fields you can have about 10 hours of practice time in a week.

2 practice halfs to a field x 5 fields (4 gravel, 1 turf) x 5 days a week (M to F) x 5 available hours per night (5 to 10pm) = 250 hours of field availability

At at my club with the boys and girls sides combined with the men's and women's teams there are 2500 players. We have two 2 gravel fields with lights to use for practice. We would have 4 teams to a field for a 1 hour time slot. There was only enough room for one practice time per week.

Also, since we were a women's team we had to pay adult fees to use the fields which are considerably more costly then youth fees even though we did not get preferential treatment for times or location.

If you are seriously having trouble getting field times for practice you should talk to the local girls soccer club and see if you can partner with them to get a better choice of field times. Usually the bigger clubs get a bigger chunk of the pie because there need are greater. The women's teams at our club joined with our youth club several years back in order to get a bettr choice of practice fields.

Just something to consider.

 

[sweeper16]

25 is just a rough estimate of teams that are practicing.
All that I know of is that when we do get a field to practice on we are not sharing it with 1 other team but with about 2 other teams. If we get the lucky chance of being on the turf field, we share with 7 other teams. That was unpleasent. we werent always guaranteed time with a goal.
It was an odd arrangement for time. I Think the biggest complaint that most of the teams have is that the club has been asking for fields since June, for the fall season, yet we don't know about a practice field until around thanksgiving. I was told by our co-ordinator to 'take our chances' at the other fields. she can't promise that we will even find a space on their to practice. Apparently the mens' teams try to practice there as well.
gravel is crappy to play on. I would rather play in the middle of the road then on a gravel/sand/dirt field.
I know there are a lot of other issues dealing with the fields and such. I think its one of those things where you have to really be an effected to to really kind of get whats going on. it's hard to explain it, if you aren't actually there hopefully something gets figured out soon tho, i am getting tired of being the one to drive around and find a field that isn't being used every week.

 

[SC]

Sweeper, you're welcome to play out in Richmond at this pitch...

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