Funds For The Sports Park Please

The Stafford Recreational Soccer League is seeking financial support for its Sports Park complex so that it may fulfill its mission of providing the opportunity for every youth in Stafford County to play soccer. Currently, SRSL enrolls over 2,500 Stafford youth twice a year for the spring and fall seasons, and is fast outgrowing all available and planned resources. At the current pace and with other demands on county fields by other organizations increasing, SRSL may have to look at capping registration (even below our current levels) and turning many kids away very soon, perhaps as early as next year.

Youth soccer is Stafford County's most rapidly growing sport. It is the largest recreational program in the County and 5th largest program in the state under the Virginia Youth Soccer Association. The county government, due to other funding priorities, has been unable to keep up with the space demands the sport requires. SRSL, an all-volunteer, non-profit organization has been shouldering, via a contract with the county, the burden of administering a robust soccer program for area youth - saving the county an estimated $350,000 dollars a year if it were to administer a similar program
- but it cannot build fields without your help. Fields are a necessity if our youth are to continue to engage in the area's most cost-effective sport and develop key citizenship attitudes like teamwork, sportsmanship and leadership, plus physical conditioning. Currently, our soccer teams do not have an efficient central place to play games or space to accomplish an effective program of practicing and games since we are sharing what fields are currently available with softball, baseball, football and other organizations or events. We need to continue to encourage the involvement of our rapidly growing youth population in sporting programs, and soccer is one of those that is easily adapted by most all youth, is very popular and is a cost-effective sport being offered in Stafford County.

To show your support for SRSL and the Sports Park project, please clearly state and offer your support to SRSL and join with them in a substantive, demonstrable way in completing the Sports Park project.