Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Great Falls soccer tries to fund fields
A few weeks ago, the board of Great Falls Soccer, a local youth soccer organization, realized it had a problem.
"Our fields are just in real bad shape," said James Gotto, commissioner of Great Falls Soccer.
High demand for athletic fields in Fairfax has been hard on the athletic fields at Nike Park, just off Utterback Store Road. Those are the fields that have been "adopted" by Great Falls Soccer and, to fix them, the board has embarked on a bold plan: to raise $120,000 and have the fields resurfaced with tough Bermuda grass, all before the end of summer.
It might seem overconfident, but the board is already about 20 percent of the way to its first goal, raising $60,000 to do one field.
The first field to be repaired, and the impetus behind the fall deadline, is the Vanessa Pean Field, named for a 16-year-old Potomac School student and avid soccer player killed in a car accident in 2005.
Each year, the Vanessa Pean Memorial soccer tournament, which benefits schoolchildren in Haiti along with Great Falls Soccer, is held at that field, and Gotto needs the field resurfaced in time for the tournament.
"Unfortunately, that's the field in the worst condition," said Roman Matijkiw, vice president of Great Falls Soccer. The organization originally looked at resurfacing the fields with ultra-tough artificial turf, but this has proven to be prohibitively expensive.
The organization is getting some assistance from Fairfax County in the actual resurfacing work and a possible $10,000 Mastonberg Grant. To get the additional money, Great Falls Soccer is appealing to local business owners and past contributors, but anyone may contribute on the group's Web site, www.greatfallssoccer.com.
For more information about the Vanessa Pean Foundation, visit online at www.vanessapeanfoundation.org.
The Vanessa Pean VIP annual soccer tournament will be held Columbus Day weekend, Oct. 11-13.
email the reporter at mtayloe@timespapers.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.