“Building strong families strengthens communities,” said Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder, speaking at a groundbreaking Monday for eleven new soccer fields coming to the Gus and Flora Kerastotes YMCA on West Iles Avenue.
Soccer moms (and dads) were on hand with their young athletes of all ages to celebrate the event and soon-to-be soccer pitches of various sizes, which will accommodate players at different stages of development.
Justin Creasey has children who play. “We have two kids, a boy and a girl, Mack and Quinn, ages ten and eight. They’re kinda of getting into their prime soccer years,” he said. “They both do Y-Soccer and S.A.S.A. Soccer here in town.”
League matches and other soccer competitions have, to date, needed to rely largely on facilities at U.I.S.
Angie Sowle is C.E.O. of the Springfield YMCA. “There are so many people who are influenced by involvement in the YMCA, and youth sports is just one arm of that, but it’s a very, very big arm.”
District 186 Schools Superintendent Jennifer Gill is one of those who has been both influenced and involved, and she has been for a long time. “My first job was at the YMCA. I was fifteen years old. I was a lifeguard/swim instructor. Both of my kids played Y-Soccer all the way through middle school.”
Gill currently serves on the YMCA board.