Oldsmar league has dreams of fields

There just isn't enough space for the Little League's 700 players, a league official says. But money for new fields likely isn't on the way.

By ED QUIOCO

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 4, 2000

OLDSMAR -- For most Little League parents and players, the start of spring marks the beginning of an American tradition: ground balls, pop-ups and concession-stand hotdogs.

But for Oldsmar Little League officials, the start of the season is anything but fun and games. It is one big juggling act, trying to fit a league bursting at the seams on a sports complex it outgrew years ago.

"When I start making the schedules in early February, I'm tearing my hair out," said league president Bill Schneider. "It's tough. You have to be a magician."

Just look at the numbers: The league, which is 40 years old, has more than 700 players, ages 5 to 18, on 54 teams that need game and practice times. But the city's sports complex, Canal Park, has only five fields.

Because of the crunch, games are played seven days a week and many players finish their games after 10 p.m. on school nights. Teams that want to practice have to use any open patch of grass they can find.

"To get a full team to practice by themselves on a full field is almost impossible," Schneider said.

"Unfortunately, we have a lot of 10- and 11-year-olds . . . not leaving the ballpark until 10:15 p.m. and they have school the next day," he said. "They are like zombies out there some nights. It can be brutal on a 10-year-old, starting a game at 8 p.m."

In 1996, the league embarked on an ambitious fundraising project called Project Play Ball to help pay for four new fields. They have raised more than $130,000, but that is just a fraction of the estimated $670,000 it will cost to build, fence and light four fields.

The league hopes it can get some help from Oldsmar and the state. The city applied for a $200,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection's Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program. If Oldsmar gets the grant, the city will match the amount, according to the grant's requirements.

The league plans to give the money it raised to the city to help pay for the fields. League officials hope the fields will be under construction by Thanksgiving, said Larry Liebling, Little League vice president.

"It's absolutely imperative we get the fields because we are strained to the limit with all the new housing and subdivisions that are springing up in Oldsmar," Liebling said. "The strain is being shouldered by the children and nobody else. It's the children who don't have a place to practice. It's the children who are being asked to play ball at 8 at night."

The players may have to keep shouldering the burden.

The city's grant application, which is in the large-development category because it seeks more than $50,000, is ranked 146 out of the 205 applications the state received for that category, said Lucinda Coverston, DEP community assistance consultant.

The projects are approved based on their ranking and how much money the state gives the department for the grants. The department will know in June which grant applications will be awarded, Coverston said.

"It's not ranked as highly as we would like it to be, but let's give it a shot," said state Rep. Gus Bilirakis, who is trying to push the grant application in the Legislature. "(The league) has done their part and we need to help them. I did my best to push it and I will stay on it because I know they really deserve it."

Further complicating matters for the league is that it is not a sure bet city officials will support building more fields in Canal Park.

City Council member Ed Richards said the city promised help to the Little League years ago. And that's what he hopes to do.

"We had an agreement that if they raised some money, we would help them," Richards said. "My main philosophy is we made a commitment and we should honor it."

But Mayor Jeff Sandler said if the grant is turned down, the city can't afford to cover the cost. The city has spent more than $2-million on Canal Park in the past 10 years and now there are other projects that need the city's funding, such as developing a park north of Tampa Road, fixing Bicentennial Park and building a library, he said.

"We have a whole host of other projects that have been ranked higher by the council in terms of priority," Sandler said. "Because we put $2-million in that park, there are other parks that we didn't put money in . . . so now we have to do something for our other parks. I don't think the council will be willing to shelve other projects for Canal Park."

Council member Ed Manny said Canal Park has gotten most of city resources for years and it can only be used for organized sports and leagues. That may leave out children who just want to play a pick-up game.

"Here we are with all this wonderful park land and we don't have places for kids who aren't in organized sports to play," Manny said. "It really upsets me. I just think we have overdone it at Canal Park."

Manny said he would vote against spending more money at Canal Park until the city's other parks are upgraded.

"We have Bicentennial Park that has nothing but an old, ugly building," Manny said. "I wouldn't be in favor of putting more money in Canal Park until we get some money for our other parks."

Schneider said the league was counting on the city's support. He's not sure what the league would do if the city backed out.

"They made a promise and I just don't see how they can turn us down," Schneider said. "How can they turn down 700 kids? As far as I know, we have a commitment from the city."

The league's growth has been minimal during the past couple of years. The big jump came between 1994 and 1997, when the number of players doubled from 300, Schneider said.

"That's when we panicked and the whole (Project Play Ball) was put together," he said. "There are a ton of kids living around here."

But many of the league's players come from unincorporated areas outside Oldsmar. Schneider said 70 percent of the players have an Oldsmar mailing address, but that includes areas such as East Lake Woodlands, which has a city mailing address but is not in the city limits.

Three years ago, city officials raised the question of whether the county should help pay for the new fields because so many county children would use them. But the county said doing so would open the floodgates for other cities seeking their fair share.

"Some of the past council members were reluctant to fund Palm Harbor children," Schneider said. "What's the difference? What would you rather have these children doing at night? These kids are just playing where they are told to play."

To raise the $130,000 it has now, the league begged and pleaded with parents and businesses.

"I don't know how much more we can get out of our people," Schneider said. "They have given as much as they can give. For a Little League to raise as much money as we have raised is just miraculous."

League volunteers built Canal Park's T-ball field more than a year ago to help relieve some pressure for the larger fields. Some nights, teams are forced to practice on the outfield while a game is being played on the infield.

"It's ugly," Schneider said. "You have to wait until play stops so these 5- and 6-year-olds can run to their teams in the outfield. Then you have 5-year-olds running around on the outfield when you have girls playing in the infield."

For league officials, there is a sense of urgency.

"The problem is that the cost isn't static," Liebling said. "It rises yearly. While we delay in trying to get funds, the amount of funds we need keeps rising. We have the (space) there available, earmarked for ballfields, and we just don't have the money to do it. That's the shame of it all."

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