Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Parks & Recreation Department

 

DATE:           April 23, 2012

TO:              David L. Corliss, City Manager

FROM:          Ernie Shaw, Interim Director, Parks and Recreation Dept.

RE:                  LPRD Baseball/Softball Facilities Report

 

Here’s the report you requested regarding baseball/softball facilities. We continue to see high use of these outdoor facilities by the Youth Sports Division (March 1 to July 31) and Adult Sports Division (April 1 through October 15), with the bulk of usage being seen in May through July when both youth baseball/softball and adult softball/kickball are running games and practices simultaneously. It is during this time the maximum stress on the system occurs when both practices and games are accommodated for both sports.

 

We currently have 30-total fields for youth and adult sports combined; 7-practice fields and 23-game fields – 7-game fields primarily used by adults and 16-game fields primarily used by youth. Twenty of the fields are lighted.  We added two youth fields at Holcom Sports Complex in 2008 and four additional youth fields to the Youth Sports Complex in 2009. Three of the new fields at YSC were lighted this year. We’ve also converted Ice Field at the Holcom Sports Complex to a multi-use field because the high schools no longer use our facilities for their games since adding fields at each of the high schools in recent years. This takes away the need for youth (16 to 18 year-olds) programming. (Please see attached map detailing where fields are located throughout the city).

 

Here’s a breakdown of the Adult Sports and Youth Sports field usage of baseball/softball fields for games and combined practice numbers for the past 10 years:

ADULT SPORTS

No. of Games

TEAMS/APPROX. PARTICIPANTS

  2001

2,556

414/6,210

2006

2,626

436/6,440

*2011

2,402

539/8,085

 

Adult Sports games are 1-hour in length

 

*changes to summer leagues created two sessions instead of one, reducing the number of games in some leagues.

 

 

YOUTH SPORTS

No. of Games

TEAMS/APPROX. PARTICIPANTS

2001

300

74/1,001

**2008

741

136/1,741

2011

938

181/2,520

Youth Sports games are 1˝-hours in length

 

**2008 was used because both the DCABA and LHABA leagues were running as programs of LPRD for the first time

 

 

ADULT SPORTS & YOUTH SPORTS

PRACTICES

APPROX. PARTICIPANTS

2007

1,407

16,180

2011

1,884

21,707

 

 

 

The practice field use numbers we can accurately provide begin in 2007. Prior to that time, we would provide blocks of time that were then distributed by each division among the leagues they served. Since 2007, we’ve seen an increase of 34 percent in the amount of practices being conducted by the Adult Sports leagues and Youth Sports leagues combined. The amount of participants served also rose by 34 percent.

 

The addition of fields to the inventory and partnering with others in recent years has accommodated the current need. Having enough practice fields for teams becomes the main concern, especially during the peak time of the youth season (May through July).  As we’ve taken over the competitive youth baseball/softball leagues, we’ve been able to adequately accommodate our current and immediate future needs, but the major thing we have difficulty accommodating are both weekday and weekend tournaments because of the amount of time devoted to both our adult recreational leagues and our recreational and competitive youth sports leagues.

 

Please let me know if you have further questions.