Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 25, 1995 TAG: 9505260027
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY D. DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Just over the railroad tracks on Berkeley Road, against a mountain backdrop, lay mounds of topsoil that soon will be turned into a parking lot and five new fields for the Roanoke Star organization.
The Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer Club Field Complex should be completed in July, said Clinton Morse, chairman of the fields committee.
The $275,000 undertaking is a step in the right direction for maintaining a high level of competition for the Star organization, Morse said. "As a club, we don't have a home field. A lot of clubs do. With the increased interest in soccer, the existing fields have more and more pressure being out on them.
"It will add a quality feature to our club to have a [home] field."
The soccer club has grown tremendously since 1985, and is one of the largest soccer clubs in Virginia. About 400 youths, ages 8-18, from all over the Roanoke Valley participate on 25 teams, classified by age and skill levels.
The organization sponsors three tournaments a year: the First Virginia Bank Fall Soccer Classic, the Soccer Stop Winter Indoor Tournament, and this weekend's Crestar Festival Soccer Tournament. This year's festival tournament will feature 188 teams competing on fields throughout the valley.
The new fields at Berkeley's Bottom will provide a central area for tournaments as well as practices, Morse said.
Morse said plans for the fields started last year, with earlier projected costs exceeding $400,000. Thomas Brothers Construction started building the fields last month after it came in with a bid of $275,000, Morse said.
"It's just a matter of the way you look at what's good for the valley," said retired Thomas Brothers president, Joe Thomas Sr. "We were trying to do it as cheap as possible."
Still, $275,000 is a lot of money, and the club is working hard to reach its fund-raising goal.
"Ultimately, a major portion of the cost for the fields will be borne by the parents," Morse said. "There will be a series of fund-raisers to raise more money."
One such fund-raiser was a charity exhibition game April 22, which pitted Roanoke's new semi-professional soccer team, the RiverDawgs, against Raleigh (N.C.) United. Although the RiverDawgs lost the decision, 1-0, about 1,000 people came out for the game.
The fields committee also is relying on corporate donations. The organization has solicited donations from Roanoke-area businesses such as Kroger and Domino's, Morse said.
"When we ask [for donations], we are asking as an organization that is not just consuming, but generating millions of dollars," Morse said.
The new fields will expand the size of the tournaments, Morse said. Since 1986, the three tournaments have produced an estimated $21.8 million in revenue for the Roanoke area, according to literature for the organization.
Morse compared giving to the soccer club to giving to Renew Roanoke. The people who invested in Hotel Roanoke know it's going to make money, he said.
However, there is one difference.
''[This] is an investment in Roanoke and our youth," Morse said.
The Stars have encouraged and recruited players from all over the valley to try out for their teams. For three years, the club has held three-day soccer camps for inner-city children. Also, many of the kids who play for the Stars get scholarships if they cannot afford the membership fees or the travel expenses.
"We want Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer to be for the valley," Morse said.
The plans for the new complex also include a "future field" that is larger than the other five, an 80-car parking lot, and a park road.
"We're not building [those] right now," Morse said. "We don't have the money."
Presently, the teams practice wherever they can find a field.
"We have some teams that are training without goals," said Danny Beamer, executive director of the soccer club. "We are plateauing out because we don't have facilities."
"Imagine nice fields, our own goals, a mountain background. We can all practice at the same place and exchange ideas," Beamer said. "I get chills down my back."
"It's a whole lot more fun to practice on a field that's mowed," Morse said.
"I twisted my ankle on [a practice] field," said Roanoke Star Under-12 White player Michael Kramer. "New fields, if we practice on them, it would be great."
There are already four soccer fields at Vinyard Park.
"If you combine our five with the [four] that are already there, it looks like a runway," Morse said. "It's a huge, nine-field complex."
by CNB