Soccer fields more than a season away

Elise Gee

COSTA MESA -- Soccer dad Chris Sarris’ son is growing at a faster

rate than the grass on the fields of the city’s new Farm Sports Complex.

The six soccer fields next to Costa Mesa High School were scheduled to

be opened this past spring, but delays in planting grass and the

unseasonably cold summer this year has put that off.

Soccer players in Costa Mesa will have to go another season without

the fields so that the turf can become fully established, city officials

said.

The city bought the 18-acre site from Newport-Mesa Unified School

District three years ago for $7 million with the intention of building a

youth sports complex. But the idea was born eight to nine years ago, said

Sarris, chairman of the Parks Commission.

At the time, Sarris’ son was a 9-year-old soccer player. He’s now a

senior in high school. Soccer parents figure they’ve waited this long for

the fields, so a little more time can’t hurt, Sarris said.

“I think the feeling in AYSO is they’re doing it right,” Sarris said.

“Everybody would rather they be done correctly than have to go back and

redo them.”

Soccer moms and dads crowded into the council chambers in 1991 to ask

for more fields. The local American Youth Soccer Organization had doubled

in two years and the need was immense, Sarris said.

“We were literally stripping the facilities,” Sarris said.

The fields at The Farm were planted last September with Bermuda grass,

which is hardier and more fit for soccer fields than other varieties. But

Bermuda also needs warmth and sunlight to grow, said Dave Alkema, park

superintendent.

And that’s something there hasn’t been much of this past year, Alkema

added.

Also, because of the late planting, the grass has only had one true

growing season rather than two, said Jon Zich, parks commissioner.

Because of the method of planting used, there has also been a problem

with weeds growing on the fields, Alkema said.

At this time, four of the six fields are well-established, but two

others are not making the progress hoped for, Alkema said. City officials

hope to have the facility open by next spring.

Zich, commissioner for Costa Mesa AYSO Region 120, also said he thinks

there’s more excitement than impatience coming from the soccer community.

“It makes up for a shortage of soccer fields,” Zich said. “Right now

we play quite a number of evening games during the week probably because

there aren’t enough fields during the weekends. A second big benefit for

us would be additional lit fields and then the third benefit, which is

important to us, is it’s more of a headquarters feeling or a complex.”