Communication from the president:
Good afternoon Parents!
I wanted to reach out to you regarding our Home K-2 & Tackle A,B,C games this year. As many of you have noticed, we will not be playing at the High School as in years past, but at Harris Whalen Park. We are very aware this is a huge change and may be disappointing to some of the players and parents.
With the shortage of Refs available in our league and the growing number of teams participating at the youth level, it has become necessary to schedule both Saturday and Sunday games at the youth level. This year all of our Home games are Saturday afternoons. Because of this and the schedules of High School sporting events, we have not been able to secure the Turf Field at this time. We did inquire about the JV field, Baytrail or Elementary school fields or any other locations with lights for the night games. We have been met with a resounding no, or no response to these inquiries. Several parents have reached out to contacts within the school district to ask for help in securing field time with little success.
We are doing our best to make Harris Whalen a comparable experience for the kids. Andy has been working tirelessly with the field maintenance team on mowing and lining of the fields. He has engaged a scoreboard company to obtain the needed parts for the current scoreboard to be repaired. Until it is repaired he has found a temporary scoreboard. We are renting a sound system for music, introduction of the teams, National Anthem, and announcing during the games, we have purchased all of the game day equipment needed. We will also continue to have Foodtrucks at our events. Due to cost we have decided not to pursue renting bleachers for spectators. As there is no division between the field and spectators, we have taken an additional step to hire a security officer to monitor each game to ensure the safety of our teams, coaches, refs, and spectators.
With that said, we are still attempting to pursue a Turf field experience for the kids. I have another email in to our Athletic Director Mary Beth Walker asking for confirmation of any Field time. According to the school website there is only 1 day with a conflict. I also have calls in to the Athletic Director at Charles Finney to see if we can utilize their Turf Field.
I know this is extremely disappointing. We are just as disappointed, if not more, than each of you. We appreciate the understanding as we navigate this new path and are open to any suggestions or ideas on what we might be able to do to make it a great experience for the kids. In addition we ask for your positive support and dialogue when speaking with the kids about this change.
Respectfully,
Liz Applewhite