De Soto’s youth soccer league will soon get an upgrade.
The De Soto City Council unanimously approved Feb. 19 hiring MidAmerica Sports Construction for $1.8 million to build soccer fields across from Riverfest Park on 79th Street. Construction is anticipated to be completed by the fall, with next spring being its first season in use.
“This has been in the works for a few years now,” said Jay Garvin, parks and recreation director. “A lot of back and forth and trying to figure [it out] and all those good things. It all started with just wanting to provide a nice place for the kids to play soccer.
“Right now, we basically find anywhere there’s green grass, or it could be brown grass, anywhere there’s grass,” Garvin added. “For example, we play at Miller Park, depending on the season, on any open area. We use the ball fields out at Sunflower in the outfields in the fall. We also used what we call inside the peanut road out at Riverfest Park, which also doubles as a parking lot.”
Mock-ups for the grounds show about 10 smaller soccer pitches, and four larger ones — the layout is subject to change depending on program needs, Garvin said.
“It’s a 400 by 400 foot pad, so what we’ll do is depending on the season, how many kids we have, that could be our set up,” Garvin said. “What we’re going to do is rotate to try and keep the grass as nice as possible. So, in the fall, we’ll try to use an area. In the spring, try to use [another] area.
“As we get bigger, that’s going to get harder and harder,” he added. “We’re guessing that three fourths of that pad we would probably use per season and then just try to move things around.”
Between practices and games, the program currently uses:
- three fields for the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten level,
- two fields for first and second graders,
- and one field for third grade through eighth grade.
Plans for the site also include fencing, a gravel parking lot and temporary bathrooms. Future plans include adding permanent bathrooms and a concessions area.
“It’s really just getting us a playing field and a place to park so that we can facilitate our soccer program,” said Mayor Rick Walker.
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