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 Field of Dreams |
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UPDATE FALL 2K
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PYAs FIELD OF DREAMS UPDATE
From its inception in 1963, PYA has been using the Lions Field facility through a long-term relationship with both the Port Washington Lions Club and the Port Washington Sewer District. As the home base for many of its numerous youth sports - - football, baseball, softball, and boys and girls lacrosse - - the field use has evolved into almost a year-round activity of the fall, spring, and summer sports. From the developmental and instructional sports of football, baseball, softball, basketball, and lacrosse taught to children 6 years of age, to the traveling midget lacrosse and little league baseball programs of the pre-teen and early-teen years, to the Babe Ruth League baseball teams for early high-schoolers, PYA has a positive impact on more than 2000 children and their families in 18 major sports programs.
Nearly four decades of heavy use, the renaissance of the PYA programs, and the proliferation of team sports for both boys and girls have caused the PYA Board to take a hard and careful look at its facilities going forward. The PYA 2000/Field of Dreams project is a bold and ambitious reconfiguration and upgrade of the flagship Lions Field. Its improvement will benefit not just our children, but also the entire community well into the next century.
Now well underway and on schedule, PYA has thus far self-funded and relied on the generous contributions from local families involved in its programs. A visit to Lions Field will show that these efforts have resulted in a near midway completion of the project. While the progress of this venture may continuously be monitored by logging on to the PYA website at www.eteamz.com/PortYouthActivities, the organization is now pursuing a variety of outside sources to meet the challenge and raise the final $250,000. These sources include local government youth grants and major corporate support. Ideas such as field naming rights, outfield signage, and direct corporate foundation solicitation as well are all being considered to close the gap so the fields will be available for community use in the fall of 2001.
This redevelopment will be achieved without expanding the present dimensions of the facility, and will place PYA and Port Washington on par with surrounding communities around Long Island with a first class, safe, and top level youth sports facility.
This is where we were.....
1963 The heart of the Baby Boom generation
In that year, hundreds of Port Washingtons youngsters were joined together by a merger of diverse local youth league sports programs for the first time as Port Youth Activities (PYA) was founded. From its inception, PYA was a nonprofit [Section 501 (c) (3)] organization that provided preadolescent and adolescent children from all racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds with an opportunity to participate in organized games and learn the fundamentals of athletics, fair play and sportsmanship from dedicated volunteers. They played their games at Lions Field, the largest undeveloped open space in town, a 10-acre parcel of land located at the end of Glen Lane amidst the newly constructed neighborhood of split-level homes off Sandy Hollow Road and the Cow Bay Apartments. The land was granted to the PYA via permission from the Port Washington Water Pollution Control/Sewer District and the Lions Club.
The four baseball and 3 football/lacrosse fields received constant use with no significant regarding, irrigation, seeding or overall facility maintenance plan year after year, season after season.
As that initial boom of young athletes moved into high school and beyond, PYA stagnated as total enrollment barely topped 100 as recently as the mid 1980s. One unsafe rutted lacrosse field with splintered benches and bleachers, and one hazardous and often muddy baseball diamond with broken chain-link backstops were usually all that were in use weekend after weekend.
The result? In programs that have spanned over 36 plus years, this initial Field of Dreams spawned many fine high school, college, and in a few cases, professional athletes. Even more important, children developed and enhanced their self-confidence while maturing into productive adults. The continuous wear and tear of the fields during the 1960s and 1970s, along with the drop of activity of the 1980s, gradually took its toll. There was little organized effort or demand for Ports youth facilities to be on par with the surrounding communities
and it showed!
 | | PYA LEGEND HARVEY COHEN |
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This is now
The dawn of the new millennium.
PYA programs now serve more than 2,000 boys and girls in 18 major sports programs annually. Theres been an explosion of multiseason, fall, springs, and summer youth programs as well as opportunities in sports for girls in lacrosse and softball that simply did not exist in the 1960s and 1970s. On any weekend, one can find developmental and instructional programs in baseball, lacrosse, and football serving kids as young as young as 6 years of age. Resurrected Babe Ruth and Connie Mack baseball leagues, the first since the 1970s, now summer long for student-athletes of high school age. In addition, district all-star teams travel to Cooperstown and beyond to play the best preteen and young-teen teams from across the United States. Also, professionally run sports clinics with formal curriculum that teach and reinforce the basics of Lacrosse and Baseball have become a mainstay at Lions Field each June immediately following the conclusion of the school year.
PYA has grown, adapted and changed with the times. Unfortunately, Lions Field has not.
In addressing this major concern, last summer the PYA Board of Directors launched the largest fund-raising effort in its 36-year history the planned redevelopment and upgrade of the Lions Field facility. This Field of Dreams consists of a minimum $400,000 renovation project that will transform the land into a top-notch athletic facility. It will not only impact local townspeople with an interest in youth sports, but will benefit the entire community well into the next century.
PYA plans to fund the reconstruction and maintenance internally, through private donations and public grants, with no burden whatsoever on taxpayers.
The active external solicitation of funds for the 10-acre project has already begun. PYA has retained a well-regarded landscape architect/general contractor and self-funded one third of the initial seed money for the planning. The expected community involvement will include participation from PYAs numerous volunteers and benefactors, parents, local and regional businesses, and charitable foundations. An initial field reconfiguration has been approved that encompasses five baseball/softball/little league fields and dugouts, four football/lacrosse fields, improved drainage, an irrigation system, an upgraded snack bar and restrooms, ample parking, and upgrading grandstands. All of this will be achieved without expanding the present dimensions of the facility. This renovation will place Port Washington on par with surrounding communities around Long Island for its first-class, safe and top-level youth sports facilities.
Your generosity is greatly requested. Please make a tax deductible contribution in the form of cash/check, gift of stocks or securities, or bequests in the planning of your estate. Not to be overlooked is a donation of your time in helping our fund-raising efforts to make PYAs Field of Dreams a reality.
This is our future. Be a part of the game.
This is where we want to be !
BE A PART OF THE GAME
Click Here to help fund the Field of Dreams Project
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