Brandon Twp.- The new community park unofficially opened this week after years of anticipation, with soccer players taking to the fields at Oakwood and Hadley roads.
But some soccer players are facing frustation, disappointment and anger as they are shut out.
‘Brandon Recreation has told all travel programs that as of June, they will have no ties with any travel teams,? said Shaun Randall, president of the Brandon Hawks Travel Soccer Club. ‘Everyone has known this park is being built and assumed that in June and in the fall of this year, we would be able to play on those fields. Now they’ve cut ties with all the travel teams, including baseball, softball, basketball and soccer. There was no reason given, other than it’s not cost effective to associate themselves with travel programs.?
Parks and Recreation Director Fred Waybrant confirmed the end of a years-long association with the travel programs.
‘I agree and the township (board) agrees,? Waybrant said. ‘We’re focusing on recreational opportunities only offered through our department.?
A presentation regarding the travel programs and recreation department will be on the agenda for the township board meeting set for 7:30 p.m., April 21, at the township offices, 395 Mill St.
The parks and recreation department counted 161 participants on Brandon travel teams for 2007-2008. The participants are almost evenly split between township residents (80) and non-residents (81). The township board unanimously voted in February to implement a non-resident fee of $60 per event and participant or $125 per family annually for recreation programs, on top of regular program fees; however, Waybrant said the number of non-residents participating in travel programs is only one part of the township’s decision to discontinue their association.
The parks and recreation staff gave The Citizen, a four-page document that Waybrant said were reasons they were no longer running travel programs. Included in those reasons are improper use of protocol by travel teams impeding effective management; demand on staff resources for time-consuming inquiries; and the exclusive nature of travel programs, which require try-outs and are counter-intuitive to the recreation department’s inclusive philosophy of ‘everyone plays.?
Waybrant said the basketball travel programs, for example, were taking up all the gym time for a very small number of students.
‘We would give them an hour and a half of gym time for eight people when I could use that for 40 people at a recreation level,? he explained. ‘During the time the Lady Mustangs were using quite a bit of the gyms, we could have done the same thing for triple the amount of girls at the recreation level. Now that demand is getting higher in a way for recreation, we want to focus on that.?
Randall expressed disbelief over the reasons given in the document for the disassociation.
‘I can’t believe they would waste their time putting something like that together,? he said. ‘I think it’s mismanagement of their own time that causes some of these problems. It doesn’t seem that complicated to me… Everything we do is scheduled around when Brandon recreation programs are… How can he say we’re taking away time from them when everything is scheduled around them??
Lining of the fields and scheduling of games and practices are all the travel soccer club requires of the parks and recreation department, Randall added. A $50 fee per soccer travel team is paid to Brandon Recreation to line the fields for the season. Each player also pays a $7 fee toward the new park.
‘We’ve been paying that and now we’re told we can’t use that park,? Randall said. ‘We calculate we’ve paid $2,600 since 2005 for the new park… Our big concern is that we don’t understand why rec is turning away revenue, when obviously the reason they changed the non-resident fee is because they need revenue. We could supplement revenue using those fields.?
For now, the travel teams are working with the schools to become part of the continuing education program. Randall notes that travel teams often provide middle school and high school sports teams with elevated talent. Waybrant encouraged travel program supporters to talk to the school district to give them a good deal on facility use.
‘Rec is no longer going to be a feeder group to high school athletics,? he said. ‘Our main goal is to create recreational opportunities.?
Randall is still hoping to cut a deal with the township at the board meeting Monday night. He said they will ask the board for permission to rent the new park fields and to use them in some capacity, possibly for practices and games. He believes $20-$25 per game would be fair.
‘We don’t need them for anything beyond renting those fields,? he said. ‘Why would they be willing to kiss all the travel programs goodbye when they could be getting revenue??