The fact that players from the Downtown United Soccer Club are now competing at the highest level in tournaments throughout the Northeast is not a coincidence. Albert Scholz, head of recreation for DUSC, said that the rooftop soccer field on Pier 40, as well as the Battery Park City playing fields, have really helped young local players improve their skills to the point where they’re as good as kids from suburban areas.
“Because of places like Pier 40 and Battery Park City, it’s why kids in the city are able to get better now and compete,” Scholz said. “Before, all they had was the J.J. Walker dustbowl.”
J.J. Walker field has since been turf covered with FieldTurf, the same artificial turf used on Pier 40, which has been praised by Scholz and others including Tobi Bergman, president of Pier Park & Playground Association. The artificial surface is a lot better than rocky, dirt fields like those on Randall’s Island where the teams sometimes play, the parents and kids say.
But the field situation will improve exponentially if the Hudson River Park Trust, as is expected, builds interim sports fields on Pier 40 in the pier’s courtyard as part of the pier’s interim development.
Scholz said that a few months ago, DUSC, Greenwich Village Little League and P3 members sat down and hashed out a concept plan for what they’d like to see on the pier in terms of interim fields.
“We said, ‘What should we ask for that doesn’t sound ridiculous?’ ” Scholz said.
Although Robert Balachandarn, the Trust’s president, hadn’t really actively solicited their input, he did accept a letter from the youth leagues on their ideas for the sports fields. The leagues’ plan includes field space that could be used variously as two baseball fields or two soccer fields. They haven’t heard back from the Trust yet.
“At the same time, we told Friends of Hudson River Park we would not stand in the way of a long-term solution” for the pier, Scholz added, referring to the park advocacy group’s desire for the pier to undergo a full-scale redevelopment that would include construction of a world-class park on 50 percent of the pier’s footprint.
“We just want the kids to have fields to play on as soon as possible,” Scholz said. “Everyone scoffed at soccer in Greenwich Village, and now we’re seeing kids competing in tournaments throughout the Northeast.”
Scholz, a printer on Varrick St. who has lived on Bedford St. for 16 years, did not grow up playing soccer. He said he and other dads who coach the teams got “jealous” watching their kids play and now have their own “geezers game” on Pier 40, including moms and dads ranging in age from 29 to 55.
“Some of the parents who yelled a lot during the games became more patient after seeing how tough it is,” Scholz noted.
Lincoln Anderson
