In The Dark

With higher demand and no lights, Sparta faces sport field shortages, By Angela Thies Sparta —With playoffs for the men’s and women’s softball leagues now in full swing, Sparta Little League Football sits anxiously on the sidelines, waiting its turn to use the much-coveted field space. More than 600 Sparta children participated in the fall football league, including flag and tackle players and the cheerleaders who support them. Each child is looking for field space on which to hone his or her skills. While many of the fields in Sparta are multi-purpose, serving different sports teams in different seasons, lighting becomes the main issue for fall sports when daylight becomes scarce. With so many children playing football, and with only two fields conducive to evening practice, the practice rotations are severely limited, said Little League President Mike Sawey. Besides the football field, “the only lighted field designated for us is behind Mohawk AvenueSchool,” said Sawey. “We can fit three super-level teams (that’s 10- and 11-year-olds) behind the school.” The problem for Sawey and his coaches is they have many more teams that need to practice, and each requires a lighted field. Over the last couple of years, the league installed temporary, portable lighting units in front of the Mohawk AvenueSchool for late-fall practice. Other groups practiced at Station Park. “We use the entire stretch of Station Park for practice,” said Sawey. “We have seven teams that practice there - five pony, which is ages eight and nine, and two seventh-grade teams.” Costs to rent the lights were shared with the town two years ago, but were borne solely by the football organization this past year, said Sawey. “We skimped on the lighting last year though,” he said. “We really should’ve brought in another unit.” The problem is that rental units can be somewhat cost prohibitive. For example, over the past couple of years, units have run between $2,500 and $3,200 for a four- to five-week period, said Sawey, depending on how many units are rented. The fees are paid with revenues the league takes in during the course of the year through registration fees, fundraisers, 50-50 raffles, and food sales at the league’s “snack shack.” With roughly six to eight tackle games and three flag games each week during the regular season, the snack shack sees plenty of business, according to Sawey. Unfortunately, the league’s fundraisers don’t generate the kind of money needed to fund large renovation projects like the one currently being proposed for the smaller of Ungerman’s two fields. Recreation Director Ginnie Mohr said current renovations proposed for the field, which include the installation of artificial turf and future lighting, among other things, would make that field more durable and better suited for football practice than some of the town’s other fields. Unfortunately, turf installations on other existing fields, including the team’s football field at Ungerman, are not being considered because of the high costs involved. Mohr said Sparta Girls’ Softball is contributing $120,000 to the renovations at Ungerman Field. Without their contribution, he said, the cost for those improvements would be prohibitive for the town. The team’s regular football field at Ungerman, while lighted, does not drain well and would benefit from artificial turf. Past experience has shown that if teams practice on the field after a heavy rain, it becomes unusable very early in the season, making it unfit for season games. The players benefit, however, from kicking practice on that field, given the goal posts, said Sawey. “The team has to decide whether it’s feasible to practice on it during inclement weather,” or whether the field should be preserved strictly for game time, said Mohr, Little League Football has contributed to improving some of Sparta’s fields in the past and hopes to be able to resolve its field and lighting issues through another collaborative effort with the town in the near future. “Three years ago we combined our money with the town’s and made some improvements to Ungerman Field,” Sawey said. “We put in new goal posts and an announcer’s booth.” Unfortunately, unlike the girls’ softball league, which generates the bulk of its revenues from its annual tournaments, the football league isn’t set up for tournament play. “We don’t have the ability to do tournament play,” Sawey said. “We just simply have a small league with about eight or nine towns participating. We have scheduled games and a playoff, but we don’t have the ability to do a major fundraiser like girls’ softball.” Sawey addressed Sparta council members earlier this month, making a case for additional field space and night lighting. “We’re just asking the town to do for our football league what they are doing for all the other sports,” said Sawey. He said the football league falls short in terms of getting field space compared to other sports teams. Mohr explained that the town receives a permit application from each sports organization at the beginning of its playing season, and the information provided helps determine what field assignments are made by the town recreation department. “Re-adjustments are made based on information provided on the applications,” said Mohr. She added that practice schedules can be adjusted by team officials so that their teams can fit in the existing spaces. Individual teams devise their own respective practice schedules once given their field assignments, she said. A question that may need to be asked in coming months, Mohr said, is: “Should the town pay for installing and maintaining lights for fields using tax dollars, or should the groups that use the fields contribute to the cost?” Many organizations have contributed in the past, she said. In addition to the football league’s contribution at Ungerman Field and the proposed girls’ softball contribution at Ungerman’s smaller field, Little League Baseball and Sparta Soccer also made contributions toward lighting costs at Station Park, she said. Town officials will look further into Little League Football’s request and overall field usage and is expected to respond to the league when the council reconvenes on Sept. 12.