A First Ever Kidsports Field House at Civic Park: A Place and Space for All Kids to Play!
Kidsports and the Eugene Civic Alliance are working together to build a first ever Kidsports Field House and Turf Field at Civic Park. As Kidsports families, coaches, and participants, we are excited to announce the Capital Campaign for Civic Park and unveil the plans for a place and a space for ALL Kidsports Families and the Community to PLAY! For more information visit: eugenecivicalliance.org.
- Plans for Civic Park include a 40,000 SQ FT Kidsports Field House that will house four full-sized middle school basketball courts that can be converted into six to eight volleyball courts & pickle ball courts. A regulation turf field will provide accessible, year-round outdoor space for all sports that can be played on a rectangular field.
- The Kidsports Field House and Turf Field are not ‘nice to have amenities,’ but rather essential components for a community that seeks to raise healthy kids that then grow into healthy, active adults.
- The KS Field House will not replace the KS Core program. The KS Core Program, as it has for 65 years, will continue to provide children, Kinder through 8th grade, with an opportunity to play at their neighborhood school, with their classmates, and neighborhood friends. Our mission remains the same—“All kids play.” No child is turned away because of ability to play or pay.
- Civic Park will provide a place and a space for locally-run tournaments, the opportunity to revitalize and expand community leagues, enhance children’s education through activity, sport, and social development academies, as well as to provide schools that currently cannot serve their populations, with additional practice and play times.
- As importantly, the Kidsports Field House will offer the community with the opportunity to participate in age appropriate physical activity and physical literacy programs tailored to meet the needs of pre-school, elementary, middle school, and high school students.
- A sampling of these activities include: Pre-school Tot Tumbling, Soccer, Basketball, and Mini Movers (fundamental movement & motor skill development); K – 5 Physical Literacy Classes (agility, balance, coordination development); and middle school basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer, and volleyball development academies.
- While the focus of Civic Park is primarily on kids, the site will also play home to adult recreation leagues offering basketball, pickle ball, volleyball, soccer, ultimate frisbee, and indoor/outdoor futsal. Elders will discover the “senior circuit” that will include walking, balance, strength, and social activities.
Civic Park business plans also include partnering with Lane United Football Club (LUFC) who, as an anchor tenant of Civic Park, would bring an exciting and entertaining brand of Premier Development League soccer to the heart of Eugene.
Civic Park is about building a healthy community. The 2014 Aspen Institute Project Play’s Report states,” if we are going to ensure that all kids have the chance to grow up fit and strong we must among other efforts, eliminate the barriers to sport participation…and one of the most formidable of barriers, is that of a lack of neighborhood recreation spaces…”(http://youthreport.projectplay.us)
Civic Park has been the site of sporting events and recreation for nearly 80 years. Creating a Kidsports facility on this historic site is an ambitious, bold, and important project for the continued health and welfare of our community. Please see www.eugenecivicalliance.org for more information about the Civic Park “Play On” project.