Reply to Hearst Playground story in Current

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
They're not talking about "tweaking" the field, they're talking about shrinking it.

Keeping it the same size and changing the configuration would probably be fine. (Although that's a hypothetical, I can't imagine how you'd do that.) Shrinking it means less utility and fewer kids served.

Hearst is also now one of only two DPR fields west of Rock Creek that is big enough for  high school age games to be played (and soccer is allowed).  The other is Fort Reno. Last spring, Wilson baseball put a fence up at Fort Reno making it unusable for soccer. DPR announced this fall that it wants to make Fort Reno primarily a baseball field -- despite the fact that there is already a strong over-abundance of baseball fields relative to the number of players. So it is important to soccer players to keep the field dimensions at Hearst.

What hasn't been mentioned is that the field isn't used just for games but also for practices. It has four movable goals, teams will just improvise a practice space. There are over 3,000 kids in Ward 3 who play soccer, and [b]Hearst is one of only a handful of places where they can practice on weekday afternoons[/b], most DPR fields prohibit anything other than diamond sports. Shrinking the field would cut into the number of kids who can practice there.[/quote]

This is patently false. As a former Stoddert coach who signed up for practice times, there were literally dozens of sites were weekday practices can take place. In fact, because it is grass and cannot be used when it is wet, it is one of the least desirable of the practice fields available.[/quote]

As a current coach I can say that is no longer the case. DPR has been curtailing the amount of weekday space for soccer quite severely. In the current season, the field space available in Ward 3 for signup was:
Hardy Tuesday (5-6pm), Thursday and Friday
Hearst  Monday, Tuesday-Thursday (6-7pm), Friday
Fort Reno Monday-Friday (6-7pm) 
Palisades  Monday and Wednesday (3:30-4:30), Friday 3:30-5:30.

There are over 3,000 kids in Ward 3 who play Stoddert Soccer and that's it.

At Fort Reno only the tiny "Auxiliary" field is available for soccer, DPR now considers the main field to be only a baseball field even though organized soccer had been played there for 40 years. Note that in the fall season time after 6pm isn't really usable because by now it is already dark then.

The only artificial turf field on that list is Palisades which is available four hours a week.

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