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Soccer league looks for light
By SUSAN THURSTON © St. Petersburg Times, published December 24, 2000 CROSS CREEK -- Plans to install lights above the soccer fields at Benito Middle School are on hold indefinitely, frustrating soccer association leaders who hoped to have them for this season. Hillsborough school officials agreed to let Verizon Wireless erect a cellular transmission tower on school property for $1,500 a month. As part of the deal, the New Tampa Soccer Association could put lights on it. The 120-foot tower went up in early December, but without the lights. District officials intended to use some of the money from the phone company's lease to pay for the lights, but have since learned they can't spend it on a private activity. "The lights were purely for the soccer league," said Mike Bookman, an assistant superintendent for Hillsborough schools. "That's not an official school thing and we can't spend taxpayer money on it." School officials say they would like to help, but can't ignore district policy. They also have to listen to the residents of nearby Arbor Greene, who are concerned about light shining into their windows. "We're going to have to sit down and decide how we can come up with a compromise," said Benito Principal Lewis Brinson. "What we do here at Benito as a school doesn't require us to have lights. We're just trying to help the community and kids." The New Tampa Soccer Association began with 15 teams in the early 1990s and has grown to more than 100 teams and 1,200 players. Teams practice and play at borrowed and rented fields scattered throughout New Tampa. "We've got all these kids that want to play and it's dark by the time the coaches get home from work," said coach Dennis O'Connor. To accommodate everyone, the association leases diesel generators to light up the three fields at Benito. They take time to operate and cost more than $12,000 a year. "They are really industrial type of equipment. You must be familiar with diesel fuel," O'Connor said. "They are difficult to maintain, but we're doing the best we can with them." Coaches have reluctantly become the keepers of machines. On any given night, the generators can run out of gas, forcing the coaches to lug 5-gallon drums of diesel across the fields. "It's not fun," he said. "It's a tremendous hassle." The generators went up in the middle of October and will likely remain until February, said Jim Felix, the association's director of coaching and player development. He has learned to live with the constant noise of the portable units, but hasn't lost hope of permanent lighting. "It would be a lot easier to coach," he said. "We wouldn't have to scream over those machines." While welcomed by coaches, the lights won't cure all of the association's woes. What the league really needs is an athletic complex like ones in Temple Terrace, Town 'N Country and Brandon. "We need a regular place to play," O'Connor said. "Benito is a good start, but it's certainly not enough." The association has accumulated an almost "six figure" war chest for capital improvements, but has no place to spend it all, he said. The league also has many parents who would help out if government took the lead to build facilities with their tax dollars. "It doesn't seem to me that there is anybody who's trying to answer the question for the entire community," O'Connor said. "Someone should step up." - Susan Thurston can be reached at (813) 226-3463 or thurston@sptimes.com.
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