Building Athletic Fields

Over the past 30 years, QVRA has had the opportunity to grow and serve the families of the Quaker Valley and surrounding communities through the dedication of its volunteers and the financial support of its members. We have expanded our offerings to include soccer and fast-pitch girls’ softball, as well as a broader range of developmental programming to children at many age and skill levels. All of this has been accomplished via short-term contracts to lease limited field space. The fact that we do not have longterm dedicated access to enough appropriate field space means that parts or all of our programs could be cancelled at anytime. If there is no place for our children to play, we will need to send them to other communities that have dealt with this issue. Did you know:

• QVRA serves about 500 youth soccer players and 550 youth baseball and softball players each year?
• QVRA programs regularly make program trade-offs due to the limited field space?
• Our primary soccer field (Aleppo Field) will most probably no longer be available in the fall 2008?
• Our ability to borrow Avonworth fields is jeopardized by the field demands of their own community?

Today’s Situation
As most of our member families are aware, finding good quality fields on which to practice and play at reasonable hours of the day has become a serious challenge for all of our youth teams. Competition for available field space in our community has reached an all-time high. The Quaker Valley is quite simply maxed-out on the number of playing fields available for school and recreational team play.

How did this happen in a community such as ours? We all enjoy the natural rolling topography of Western Pennsylvania with its mountains and river valleys and scenic views. But beautiful landscape and open areas for recreational play do not go hand-in-hand. In fact, in older communities like the Quaker Valley, original city planners did not anticipate the future importance of preserving open space for recreational endeavors. The result is what we have today--very limited availability of usable land on which children and young adults can maintain a healthy lifestyle and grow and develop their recreational interests and athletic skills.
 
Partnering for the Future
So what is the answer to our field shortage? QVRA was recently presented with an unexpected opportunity that will change the face of recreation for children and families in the area. Through a long-term partnership agreement and property lease with the Quaker Valley School District, QVRA will develop and build a new community recreation complex from the ground up. Using a 30+ acre parcel of unused school district property, QVRA will design, build, operate, and be the caretaker of a new recreational open green space that will potentially serve over 3,000 children and their families through developmental athletic programs and related activities.