REEDLEY – Nearly four years ago, the Reedley City Council made the difficult decision of allocating more than $2 million of general fund money to the development of the Reedley Sports Park.
The Reedley Sports Park, located off Dinuba Avenue in the southeast corner of the city, had been on the minds of the city council for years, if not decades. After multiple unsuccessful attempts at applying for grant funds to expand the park, the council had to take in differing community feedback, consider the financial health of the city and settle on a direction for the project.
“And I would say, looking at these children who are having fun, they made the right decision,” City Manager Nicole Zieba said on June 26 at the opening of the North End Soccer Phase.
Thanks to that decision from the city council — which included current Mayor Matthew Tuttle and Mayor pro tem Mary Fast, the now-retired Anita Betancourt and Ray Soleno, and the late Robert Beck — Reedley’s young soccer fanatics have more space to play. Dozens of community members, including youth soccer players, city staff and current and retired elected officials, gathered at the Reedley Sports Park to celebrate that extra space with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Construction on the North End Soccer Phase wrapped at the beginning of the month, bringing additional parking, sidewalk trails, a small picnic area and a second entrance to the park — and, of course, an NCAA-size soccer field with two youth field overlays and stadium lighting.
While the ribbon cutting marked the end of construction and planning work for Reedley’s city staff, it meant the start of new opportunities to play for those involved in youth soccer in the city. Eleven-year-old Danahi, who plays for the Aguilas Soccer League, was one of many local kids playing on the new grass field during and after the ceremony. She said that while the fields on the other end of the park are older and patchy, playing on the new field was much better.
“Since these are brand new, these are really good fields to play on,” Danahi said. “So the players can feel more comfortable on it, running around and dribbling the ball up.”
Aguilas Soccer League President Angel Mondragon said having the extra soccer field space, especially with the stadium lights, will make everyone happy. With the smaller fields, he said it was hard to keep everyone playing in the same area, especially the older kids. Aguilas Soccer League likes to give kids the opportunity to start at a low level and work to become more competitive, he said, and the larger field will help with that.
Further, Aguilas Soccer League has a lot of its games on Fridays — many players are in other leagues that play on the weekends — but previously didn’t have the space for everyone to play. The ability to play at night will also benefit Reedley’s youth, particularly come the fall and winter when it gets dark earlier.
In thanking all those who had a part in the project, Zieba said she specifically wanted to share her gratitude for State Sen. Anna Caballero and former Assemblymember Devon Mathis. The local legislators helped secure state budget earmarks for the city to be able to purchase the stadium lights that surround the field, as the $2.5 million the city council dedicated to the park did not cover lighting.
As Reedley youth continue to embrace the opportunities the soccer fields provide, the next addition will have fans of another popular sport hooting in excitement. Zieba announced that the Sierra Kings Health Care District Board of Directors just recently agreed to grant the city $100,000 to install two public pickleball courts at the sports park this fall.
“That is another amazing investment, and again something that takes courage when there are many people pulling at your bank account strings, so thank you,” Zieba said.
