Year Round Soccer Field in Coconut Creek

We respectfully request that the Coconut Creek City Commission and Officials make a commitment to the youth of our city by designating the East Field of George Gerber Memorial Park as a year round soccer training field.

Soccer is by far the fastest growing sport in America. According to the Soccer Industry Council of America, more than 17 million Americans play soccer and the number is growing strongly. It is the #1 youth participation sport in the US. Coconut Creek is no exception to this phenomenon; we are a soccer-crazy town as well. Nearly 1,000 boys and girls, aged 5 to 15, play soccer through the efforts of numerous parent volunteers working within the Coconut Creek Soccer Club. During our regular season, our fields are flooded on Saturday mornings and week nights with minivans, orange slices and 5 year olds chasing balls like swarms of honey hungry bees.
Study after study has concluded that team sports, such as soccer, are a significant contributor to the development of healthy, scholastically successful and emotionally stable children. We sincerely value and appreciate the cooperation which the city has extended to our children over the years by allocating the use of these fields during the regular season. The Coconut Creek Soccer Club has grown tremendously over the past few years and we anticipate its continued growth and success in years to come. However, year round training fields are a vital necessity for a significant number of exceptional soccer players from within our community, in order for them to continue to train, develop and succeed in the sport.

As it currently stands, soccer players do not have a year round place to call home, within the City of Coconut Creek. Sadly enough and as a result, many of these exceptional local players which our community has developed over the years, have reluctantly been forced to look elsewhere to neighboring communities such as Coral Springs, Parkland and Boca Raton where year round programs and facilities exist for the children to continue in the sport. Subsequently, these talented players and perhaps what they can contribute to the younger children in our community have been lost to other towns permanently.

We call on the City Commission and Elected Officials to hear the voices of its families and children, not in a confrontational manner, but rather as a concerned request to make a commitment to provide much needed, year round soccer fields for the benefit of the children of our community.