When the Avalon Pop Warner Cheer and Football programs began the 2008 season late last week it was with a great big sigh of relief. Because athletic schedules at Timber Creek High School have been changed thanks to the decision by the Orange County Public School Board in May, the youth league was forced to find a new home.
“It’s been a long and stressful last two months because we literally had no place to go,” said league commissioner Alan Morrison. That was until turning to the Avalon Management Group, who authorized the use of private property until developmental plans get underway there in about two years.
After getting some help with leveling, grading and sewing new grass at the empty plot in downtown Avalon, the field was ready to go on opening day. “We put a little money into it and got the field in shape,” said Morrison, proudly.“And it’s going to be our home in 2008 and hopefully in 2009.” Morrison got a laugh at how the new field, as quickly as it was put together, is in even better shape than the one they started on when TCHS was being built less than a decade ago.
It’s clear, though, that being picky about such details is hardly what’s on the minds of the 400 kids and their supportive parents, who are happy just to have a place to play. Two other alternatives were under consideration before Avalon stepped up to the plate. Morrison said he was getting close to locking down a new home for the league in a neighboring community only to find out that not everybody nearby was so keen on the idea.
“It’s sad to say that while some communities embrace us, others have completely lambasted us,” said Morrison. One of the original options was at a vacant piece of land in the Jade Forest subdivision of Waterford Lakes, he said. Although he received permission to relocate the league there through a vote by the homeowners association, he encountered strong objection from residents who didn’t want the heavy traffic that would come along with it.
Morrison felt that because its residents were so “dead set against it” that it didn’t make sense to bring the kids there. Still yet another option, one that may have come at the expense of the fall sports programs at TCHS, meant the league staying at the school but fitting in practices wherever and whenever they could.
“Timber Creek has always bent over backwards for us,” Morrison said. “But it was just not the right thing to do (to those other programs).” Until school starts Aug. 18 the league will use the facilities at TCHS before returning to downtown Avalon for the remainder of the season. Though it’s early, Morrison said there has been a lot of support throughout the process from everyone involved.
“This was really a community effort,” he said of finding a place for the kids to play. “Between our program, the administrators from the school and the community, they knew what we were up against and they were willing to step up if they could help out.” Luckily, Avalon’s trying time wasn’t shared by others. Pop Warner programs at University and Azalea Park have been fortunate enough to steer clear, so far, of becoming a scheduling casualty at the high schools they currently call home.
A nice patch of grass
Azalea Park Pop Warner has had to
get rather creative over the years when
it came to finding a place to hold practices.
The league had previously bounced
between the Colonial High School
Ninth Grade Center, Stonewall Jackson
Middle School and East Orange Baptist
Church in search of a nice patch of
grass.
Until last year, when according to Azalea Park Pop Warner Commissioner Anne Wintsch-Reis, Colonial High School opened its fields to the league and made room for them to operate. Though it’s too early to tell whether or not they will feel the affect of the new high school schedule, Wintsch-Reis said they’ll feel fortunate no matter which way it plays out. “There might be a little more shifting around than before but we will try to stay real flexible because we really rely on the school,” she said.
“We feel confident we’re going to be there for a while.” The fact that the 160 boys and 40 girls in the league may be a little more spread out from each other than in the past is a small price to pay for what they receive in return, and everyone involved is aware of it. “It gets tricky in the fall with everybody needing the use of the fields and we understand that,” said Wintsch-Reis. Among them are the marching bands at each school and the freshman, junior varsity and varsity football and soccer teams in need of practice space.
University Pop Warner Commissioner Dave Brunat said he expects a few minor changes working with the available space at University High School this year. “You make due with what you’ve got,” said Brunat. “We feel fortunate to be one of the ones to get a decent practice facility and (UHS) has always worked pretty good with us in the past.” For 18 years the program has called UHS home.
This year 300 kids will return and most will not even notice the slight adjustments that may need to be made. “We’re lucky in that it’s an older school with a lot more room over there,” said Brunat. “That’s really what saved us.” Perhaps one day the concerns will become only a memory for all involved. For some time now, that’s what Morrison has had on his mind. He envisions the creation of a regional park that could be home to the area’s many different youth leagues. As talks with local business leaders are ongoing, the possibility of making something of that magnitude a reality is very much alive.
“There is a bigger picture here, where not only our program but all the east Orange youth sports can go and be a part of,” said Morrison. “Land out here is at a premium and I don’t care what league you go to, they face the same issues [to find places to play] that we face,” he said. That goes for leagues such as East Orange Soccer, the Central Florida Lacrosse Club and East Orange Little League, among others.
With thousands of kids from East Orlando taking part in youth sports, and available places to host those events looking to be few and far between, the future for such leagues seem to be hanging in the balance. “A regional park and a facility like that will happen one day, but when, I don’t know,” said Morrison.
Hopefully for those kids participating in the Avalon Pop Warner programs it begins to take shape sometime over the next two years. If not, they’ll be looking for another patch of dirt to call home very soon.
