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More access to city sports fields sought

Representatives of the Coffee County Fast Pitch Association told members of the Manchester Parks and Recreation Board that they are hoping to continue to grow the softball league. One aspect of that involves having more access to Manchester’s ball fields.

Coffee County Fast Pitch Board member Lauren Crouch said during the Nov. 9 Parks and Recreation Committee meeting that the association is hoping to work with the city entity on further growing its league as well as addressing some concerns.

“With the growth we are experiencing we are recognizing the need for additional fields and some improvements to the fields,” Crouch said. “We do have concerns from our league and private citizens concerning league accessibility right now.”

Crouch said it is the league’s understanding that Manchester’s baseball and softball fields and locked and unavailable for use from November until March each year.

“With the added interest and growth we are experiencing we feel like this needs to be addressed and hopefully changed,” She said. “While we understand that field maintenance is necessary, we do not feel that four months is an acceptable time from for this to be performed and for our youth to be unable to access the fields in our public park.”

Crouch said the Coffee County Fast Pitch Association is willing to help Manchester Parks and Recreation with either monetary or volunteer

As a league we are prepared to assist in any way that we can. Whether it be monetarily, time volunteered or any other avenue that would prove beneficial.

Parks and Recreation Director A.J. Fox said the city’s sports fields are closed annually from Nov. 1 until March 1.

“That is to give the grass areas some rest and for us to make improvements, add infield dirt mix, repair fences, dugouts and things of that nature,” he said.

Fox said all of Manchester’s sports fields transitioned to Bermuda grass a few years ago, and the grass is dormant during the winter months and only begins to grow again once the heat hits.

“It goes dormant during the wintertime and that is when if you have players on it you will have the most wear and tear on it and it is going to destroy the grass, for a lack of better words,” Fox said.

Fox said he has no problem revisiting the department’s policy regarding the downtime for the sports fields and trying to come up with a solution that works for everyone.

“We are not opposed to changing the policy to get more access to the fields,” Fox said. “I guess we just need to find out what a good common ground is so we are not overtaxing the fields so when we do have regular season play they are not destroyed.”