DATE: Friday, August 15, 1997               TAG: 9708150929

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   64 lines

ARENA KICKS OFF SOCCER FESTIVITIES D.C. UNITED COACH SAYS AT ONE TIME AREA FACILITES WERE THE WORST, BUT NOW ARE AMONG THE BEST.

The Hampton Roads Soccer Council has trotted out two of soccer's big guns to dedicate its long-awaited $2 million complex of 19 fields: the nation's most successful coach and one of the game's most powerful figures.

Bruce Arena, coach of Major League Soccer's Washington D.C. United, spoke to a packed house of about 300 invited guests Thursday night at the Holiday Inn Executive Center to kick off the dedication. Arena, who won 295 games and five national championships in 18 years as head coach at Virginia, was coach of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team. His United also won the 1996 MLS championship.

Today at 8:30 a.m., Larry Monaco, executive vice president of U.S. Soccer, will participate in the official ribbon cutting at the complex site. Monaco is thought to be a favorite to become president next year of U.S. Soccer, which governs all amateur and professional soccer in America.

Arena said the complex, which covers 75 acres adjacent to the Virginia Beach GTE Amphitheater, will be among the nation's best for amateur soccer when teams begin playing there in September.

``At one time, your facilities here were the worst'' in the state, said Arena, who was flown in for the event by the city of Virginia Beach.

``Now you're the best.

``You have a group of people with a vision, who made a statement about what they wanted to do and actually got it done. That is unique. I've heard a lot of people talk, but you rarely see their vision come to fruition in the end.''

It has been a long-awaited dedication for the Soccer Council, which was formed nearly six years ago by the city's four major amateur soccer leagues at the behest of soccer enthusiast Dick Whalen to raise money for the complex.

The group spent two years checking out sites - 15 in all - and negotiating a lease with the city. Then came the hard part - raising the $2 million.

``It took us a little while to raise the money, but you expect that with a big project like this,'' said Mike Barrett, who spearheaded the group's fundraising.

``It took time to find the site, but it was very important that we find the right site. We did. It's a perfect location.''

The city will lease the land to the Soccer Council for $1 per year.

The city expects to reap tax revenue from the complex. Soccer tournaments currently attract about 30,000 visitors per year to Virginia Beach and Norfolk, Barrett said. The new complex will allow those tournaments to grow.

``We anticipate 50,000 (out-of-town visitors) and an economic impact of $6 million annually,'' Barrett said. ``Soccer people spend money when they come to our tournaments.''

But Barrett said attracting visitors was not the major reason for building the complex. Hundreds of the city's youth and adult teams are forced to play on school-yard fields, many poorly-drained and most smaller than regulation size. That will change in September, when the complex begins hosting the first of what are expected to be nearly 8,000 youth and adult soccer matches each year.

One of those fields will be dedicated to Ryan Smith and Matthew Fidler, 16-year-old soccer players killed in 1994 in a scuba diving accident. The families of the deceased players raised $30,000 to have the field dedicated to their sons. ILLUSTRATION: VP MAP

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