Elk Grove Fight Brewing Over Soccer Fields
ELK GROVE (CBS13) — There is a heated fight over soccer fields in Elk Grove, after a group of players said they weren't being allowed to use the space to practice.
The Cosumnes Community Services District runs the soccer fields – it held a special meeting Thursday night to come up with a solution.
Thursday night's meeting at Elk Grove Park drew a large crowd of parents, coaches and even young athletes who are hoping CSD officials will give them fair use of the district's soccer fields.
"We all pay money to the CSD and we should have the same rights and privileges that the other clubs have." said Sherrie Cahoon, who for the last five years, has been commuting from her Elk Grove home to South Sacramento just to get her daughter to soccer practice.
"A lot of people are on a budget, that's a lot of gas you're spending money to get them to and from practices." Cahoon added.
Another parent was also frustrated and fed up with having to drive outside the city limits – she says "we are working parents with multiple kids trying to get to multiple practices and the time crunch is critical."
Kyle Crist, President of IR Soccer Academy, says the Elk Grove Youth Sports Association has a contract with CSD to allocate the soccer fields to different teams.
Crist says the EGYSA president is also a paid board member for one of the competitive soccer teams, and feels she's unfairly allocating the fields.
When Crist asked the EGYSA why his team wasn't given access to other soccer fields, members told him none of the fields were available.
Crist says his team is only allowed to use one of over 40 fields, despite having 500 soccer players.
"The priority here at CSD is recreational sports, I think we have to look at the change in the community and we need to change to adapt to the way things are being run," said Michelle Orrock, board president for the CSD board.
CSD board members decided they will now be the ones to allocate the soccer fields instead of the EGYSA.
The board is having another meeting July 20 to come up with a new plan for 2017.
