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Growing soccer club could find another home

With a new space, the Westchase Soccer Association would be able to reclaim players and avoid a league merger.

By STEPHANIE HAYES
Published September 11, 2005

WESTCHASE - A piece of land next to Ed Radice Park might be a big score for soccer players in Westchase.

The Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department wants to buy a 9-acre site to the east of Ed Radice, possibly for the Westchase Soccer Association to use exclusively, said John Brill, spokesman for the parks department.

"There would be extensive site work to get it level and get everything ready," Brill said. "Right now we're just trying to buy the land. It's not a done deal."

The burgeoning Westchase soccer league has lost out on exclusive contracts before. The 2,000-member Hillsborough County United Soccer Association snagged Ed Radice. The Town 'N Country Soccer Association claims Shimberg Park. Even a cricket team trumped Westchase at another park.

"Everybody wants to have their own little kingdom," Brill said, adding Westchase's association is "just busting at the seams."

This season soccer president Margot Pinheiro said the group used subtle methods to cut the number of players from 600 to 500, ages 3 through 12.

"We had a skill assessment," she said. "We said "If you don't come, you can't play.' We only had two registration dates. We tried to promote other clubs."

An exclusive space could let Westchase welcome back lost players or avoid merging with another league, an unpopular idea with parents, Pinheiro said.

Money to buy the water department-owned land is in the Northwest Recreational Corridor budget, and rising property values may make the transaction a priority.

A piece of land next to the 9-acre parcel might also be a practice spot, though the parks department won't buy it, Brill said. The Westcoast Mopar Club hosts an annual car show on the field. Brill said Westchase could enter into an agreement to use the field and put up temporary goal posts.

That field is riddled with holes and ruts, Pinheiro said.

"The space itself is very unsafe for the kids to play," she said. "The most we could ever do there is practice at this point."

Meanwhile, Westchase waits for playing space on its own turf. Glencliff Park, the association's home base, should have new sod by today, said Doug Mays, maintenance supervisor for Westchase. Sodding was delayed when the county turned off Westchase's reclaimed water service for testing in late August.

Mays said a sod accelerator should speed growth in time for the Oct. 1 season kickoff, though he'd prefer that trampling feet stay off the grass for a month.

"They probably won't be able to practice on it at the beginning," Mays said.

Parking is also in limbo at Glencliff. Parking lot demolition and repaving will begin on Monday and should be done in two weeks.

Westchase has in-a-pinch field space set up at a field on Country Hollow Drive adjacent to Lowry Elementary School. Westchase's older soccer players will play at the Westchase Recreation Center.

Pinheiro said the association is poised to help with money if it means permanence.

"If we can see that there's something at the end of the tunnel that's going to be for us, we don't mind investing in it," she said.

- Stephanie Hayes can be reached at 813 269-5303 or shayes@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 10, 2005, 09:32:05]