Soccer field use scoured
By Monty Tayloe
At Lewinsville Park, home base of McLean Youth Soccer, a lot of kids play a lot of soccer all the time. Most of those kids are from McLean, but not all of them, and that might be a problem.
The Fairfax County Department of Community and Recreation has begun an investigation into the relationship between McLean Youth Soccer and the Washington Freedom, a Maryland-based professional women's soccer team. About twice a week, Super Y league teams of girls who have paid hundreds of dollars to play soccer with the Washington Freedom youth teams gather at Lewinsville Park to play.
“Taxpayers helped fund the field, we pay for the lights, we fund the maintenance. ... They shouldn't let for-profit teams make money from a county field,” said Liz Rothrock, a McLean resident who lives close to the park.
However, it's a little more complicated than that. Many, though not all, of the girls on the Washington Freedom teams are McLean and Fairfax County residents. Some are from Maryland and surrounding counties, but their coach Clyde Watson says that is beside the point.
“This is an opportunity for the McLean kids to play quality soccer. ... They wouldn't get the chance otherwise,” Watson said.
“This is the only way MYS kids can be affiliated with the Super Y league,” said Chris Leonard of the county's Department of Community and Recreation Services.
According to Watson and officials at the DCRS, the Freedom teams playing at Lewinsville Park have all paid the required county fees to be registered with the MYS, the same as all the other kids who play at Lewinsville. Still, the county remains concerned that the Freedom and MYS may have a more irregular funding arrangement, which is the impetus behind the county's investigation.
“We want everyone to pay the same fees,” Leonard explained.
There's also something to Rothrock's complaint. Using soccer fields in Montgomery County, near the Freedom's headquarters, can cost hundreds of dollars in use fees, a cost that the relationship with MYS lets the Freedom circumvent. Also, the arrangement could be leaving other teams without a place to play.
“There's other clubs that may want to use that field, and they can't because a Maryland team is using it,” said Mike Burke, a former youth soccer coach who believes the relationship is improper.
“If [MYS] is not using it, they should let Fairfax teams schedule it,” said Rothrock, who was part of a previous lawsuit against MYS.
MYS has right of first refusal to schedule fields in Lewinsville Park.
Currently, DCRS is reviewing its much-violated youth sports residency requirements, a change that could make some of Burke's and Rothrock's complaints moot.
“If we just pulled everybody's permit, every youth sport in the county would be affected,” Leonard said.
email the reporter at mtayloe@timespapers.com