July 1, 2004

ValleyViewpoints

Community needs a sports complex

Editor,
Our three boys are all very active in soccer. As parents, we feel community-sponsored athletics is essential to our children’s growth as balanced individuals. It is also an important factor in the way our family supports and becomes part of the Almaden community. We believe that having a dedicated sports complex in our area has become a long-awaited necessity.

Almaden-based sports activities involve a very large number of people and often a truly overwhelming amount of time generously given by coaches, referees, associated volunteers, and most importantly our children. We have frequently traveled outside the Almaden area for soccer tournaments and been amazed at the multiple fields of superior condition in other cities.

It is a shame that our region cannot offer similar venues both for weekly games and tournament play. At the least, our children and coaches deserve to play on grounds that are safe and well-maintained to avoid unnecessary and sometimes serious injuries. We should be able to offer to visiting teams the type of tournaments and playing conditions which they so readily and consistently offer our players.

A community is the extended family in which one raises their family; developing a safe and convenient sports complex is another way that Almaden demonstrates that our community is not just a place to live.

—Ross and Shawn MacPhee