Photo Credit: Foothills Park and Recreation District
Since it’s December, some locales might be very, very cold, while others are very, very wet; in some places, it might be both. Either way, it’s always “nice” to have indoor, temperature-controlled sports fields for parks and rec teams to keep their skills honed.
However, not everyone has the luxury of being able to enjoy “nice-to-have” facilities, at least not with their in-house inventory of “necessary” fields. The decision to install an indoor sports facility shouldn’t be an emotional one; several factors need to be weighed in an objective “cost-benefit” analysis.
It is difficult to say exactly how many parks and rec departments have indoor sports fields; there are more and more every year as the industry improves products, service, marketing, and affordability. Nationally, it is estimated that there are about 750 indoor soccer fields alone, according to United States Indoor Sports Association (USIndoor) (www.usindoor.com), an organization founded in 1998. That number doesn’t include multi-purpose, indoor sports fields.