Demand Action! Lincoln Youth Soccer Needs Fields!

If you have been involved with Lincoln Youth Soccer, either as a recreation player, in our competitive program, or in our recently formed premier program Lincoln Liverpool, you will have quickly noted our utterly inadequate fields and facilities. Too often we hear from our players' parents and the parents from visiting teams, "This is Lincoln?! Why isn't the grass cut? Why are there all these holes in the field? Why can't you get into the bathroom?" Oftentimes at Lincoln Middle School, players are playing on dust, the ball is bouncing like a basketball on the dry bare dirt ground or players are tripping on exposed sprinkler heads or dribbling around cones we use to cover them.

LYSA has tried to work with the town to try to improve the conditions of the fields we currently use- Lime Acres and Lincoln Middle School. We have been offered the exclusive use of Manville Park, but it is in such poor shape that the league we play for has condemned the field! We do not have enough fields to accommodate the growing needs of our soccer community. We have had various meetings with the town, with assurances that they are aware of our needs. However, despite all of our efforts, there has not been any commitments on space or timelines. As we push for more space, we see more money spent on improvements to baseball and softball fields. As it currently stands in the town, there are 14 dedicated baseball and softball fields and NOT ONE dedicated soccer field. As you have probably seen, we share fields with baseball and football. Our successful and growing town recreational soccer program is squeezed into the outfield space at Lime Acres, our competitive practices are interrupted by football players running through, and whatever efforts we have made to save our limited fields from ruin by football cleats have gone completely ignored.

We are asking for your support of this petition to get a firm commitment of space to Lincoln Youth Soccer. Soccer's numbers in Lincoln have far surpassed that of baseball, and it is time for our players to get the space they need. This will allow our players to develop. We would be able to have more practices, host more games and tournaments, hold more skills clinics, and have more control of field conditions. We could expand our partnership with Liverpool as well for our players that aspire to play at the premier level.

Our fields are vastly inadequate in comparison to surrounding cities and towns. Soccer specific complexes have been built in Pawtucket, Providence, Central Falls, South County, Westerly, Bristol, Smithfield, Burrillville, Warwick, East Providence...the list goes on. Towns and cities throughout Rhode Island are recognizing the growing love for soccer in their communities and are responding to the needs of their children by allocating the funds to support this sport. Across the state, communities are finding the space and the money, and Lincoln is not! Please support this petition by signing below. Our town needs to recognize its children!