Salinas to see new soccer complex for youth

The City of Salinas is supporting a new soccer facility people hope will keep kids busy after school and away from the streets.

The Salinas Regional Soccer Complex has been a project 10 years in the making, and organizers of the project want to put it across Constitution Park by Natividad.

A major challenge for soccer leagues in Salinas has been the overcrowded fields and poor maintenance.

“There’s not enough fields, not even close to enough fields. A lot of the travel teams have to travel far,” said Benny Chuca, the head coach for the U-12 Eagles.

The Salinas Regional Sports Authority has made it their mission to improve the quality of the soccer fields available in Salinas. They want to build a new 22-field soccer complex, complete with a health and training center, stadium seating for 2,000 people as well as picnic areas.

“We wanted to see the youth in our community playing on facilities that made them proud, that made us as a community proud,” said Kurt Gollnick, an SRSA board member.

On Saturday, the SRSA met with parents and players about what the complex should look like. The city and Monterey County have already agreed to lease out the property. It is 68 acres right across the parking lot for Constitution Park and is going to be brought about in four phases. The SRSA hopes to start the first phase this November.

Those phases include renovating the existing grass fields and eventually building an indoor soccer field. It will cost about $20 million. No government funding will be involved; all the money is being raised with the help of local foundations.

Community members say projects like these will help the youth.

“Keeping (the youth) away from bad decisions like drugs and gangs, things like that… it is very important for me that we do have things like that in our community,” said Lorena Mendoza, a parent.

“Growing up in a community that’s bicultural and bilingual, soccer was sort of a way to identify yourself. You build family, you build friends and these networks, and it was my way to access higher education,” said Carissa Purnell, the varsity head coach for the Alisal High School girls soccer team.

Organizers hope the soccer complex will be completed in four to five years.