I think it’s pretty small to say flat-out “no” to these kids and the adults who happen to like a game that only the rest of the world plays....Read it all, and ask Chip Worrell if he is the same Chip Worrell who was at the October 19 county commissioners' meeting speaking in favor of the soccer complex. (Why yes, yes he is--at around 1 hour, 8 minutes in.)
I suppose if the neighbors are used to having golf balls occasionally fly through the living room window, switching to baseballs isn’t much of a stretch, but that aluminum bat “klink!” sound might get a tad annoying after the 100th hit.
Times are tough, revenues are down and the county kitty is pretty low, but the time to buy land is in a down market, and here we have an association and major donors willing to make up a huge chunk of the costs. This opportunity will not come around again....
For crying out loud, you don’t have to play the game, or even like it. Just let the kids have a place to play it.
Myself — I’d be humiliated to say no to a bunch of young ’uns just looking for a place to kick a ball.
This was the meeting that included the vote by the commissioners to exercise the purchase option agreement, the vote no one else knew about. It included a presentation by the Henderson County Soccer Association and seven people speaking in favor of the complex during the public input session with no one present to speak against it because the vote on the option agreement was not public knowledge.
Did the HCSA ask Chip to speak? Had he heard about the county purchase some other way?
And, of course, according to Steve Wyatt, Henderson county manager, there is no guaranteed financial commitment from the HCSA for any funds at all, so saying "here we have an association and major donors willing to make up a huge chunk of the costs" is disingenuous at best.
They jumped the shark. They know the taxpayers are upset and see what a fraud this is. Now they are trying to shame us to doing this "for the children."
ReplyDeleteWell, the fact is the HCSA does NOT guarantee the money for this.
The Parks and Recreation Department's OWN 1997 Needs Assessment (thanks to Anna and Tom for reminding me of this) lists the costs: "An approximation of the expenditures over the next twenty years is between $6,000,000 and $11,500,000."
What we have NOT seen from the proponents is how much THIS proposed complex will cost over 10 years. My own estimates are that it will easily surpass $2-2.3 million over 10 years, and that's a low estimate. The 2007 Needs Assessment confirms what I have been saying all along. This is a boondoggle no matter where it is, even more insulting that the proponents did this behind our backs and seek to get Flat Rock residents shamed to bend zoning rules.
Artificial turf at high schools could be done for the same amount or less, for every sport, not just soccer.
Here is a video from the United States Futsal Federation. The President of USSF, Alex Para, points out about 3:45 in the video that Pele, Mardona, Ronaldo, all the best players in South America played FUTSAL as kids, NOT soccer. The players on the video even point out that the 5-a-side version without walls develops dribbling and passing skills much better than the outdoor game because there are more touches for each child, and when they are older, the skills translate to the outdoor game.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.futsal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=284&Itemid=168
Believe it or not, the United States even made the Futsal World Cup Final in 1992, losing 4:1 to Brazil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_FIFA_Futsal_World_Championship#Final
Why didn't we take advantage of this grest result and really push Futsal in America? Like everything else in American soccer, doing the right thing for the sport is stopped by Soccer Mom politics. There are at least two rival Futsal groups and NO pro league in America. Our kids play "indoor soccer" with hockey walls which teaches physicality and luck. Even Japan's women had to train with "5-a-side" due to the earthquake/tsunami disaster, as ESPN commentator Julie Foudy said in the Women's World Cup Final. In other words, they trained playing FUTSAL. They also beat us in penalty kicks. Even the women's program won't get away with physicality and luck anymore. (It's also amazing the Japanese women's league has promotion and relegatio, but "the infrastructure is not there yet" for pro-rel in "Mediocre League Soccer." Crank up the excuse machine.)
Point is there are plenty of gyms in this county to set up Futsal programs for the younger kids, right NOW! The idea of not giving kids a place to play is absolute pap and stuff that rhymes with pap.
Whoops, meant 2007 Needs Assessment, not 1997.
ReplyDeletehey chip
ReplyDeletegot a buyer for the property it will take 200,000 right now or wait for 2 yrs and buy it for 165,000 because thats whats going to happen and the noise and lights traffic, COME ON MAN
Let's let the kids have a place to play soccer, in Fletcher or anywhere else besides the Highland Lake Golf Course. Let's let the kids play golf at Highland Lake Golf Course.
ReplyDeleteSally Hughes