The grass is neatly shorn and shines a smooth, lustrous green. The white chalk lines are arrow-straight. Already, the thuds of feet kicking balls and shouts of encouragement from the sidelines have been heard during a few scrimmages. The brand new SoccerPlex in Germantown is set to open.
Tomorrow, the Maryland SoccerPlex will celebrate its "grand opening," complete with a fireworks display. Over the weekend, the site will host its first tournament. Dozens of teams from across the country will get their first glimpse of a complex that is unique in the Washington area and considered by national soccer officials as a top-notch haven for serious soccer enthusiasts.
"It probably will be the finest soccer field complex in the nation," said Herb Giobbi, the acting executive director of the U.S. Soccer Foundation, which issues grants to aid the growth of soccer in this country. "It is truly outstanding."
The complex is still a work in progress. Just 19 of what will eventually be 24 soccer fields will be ready when play begins this weekend. The Discovery Sports Center, an indoor facility for a variety of sports, won't open until November. Work on the site will continue for four more years, as a new park and a broad assortment of other recreational facilities are built.
Crews have been working overtime in recent weeks in a race to get local roads ready for the tournament. Indeed, traffic has been, and remains, the primary concern of area residents who have worried about the impact the large complex will have on their community since it was proposed three years ago. Residents' worries that local wells and streams might be tainted by runoff from the site led the County Council to agree to monitor local water quality for five years. The council also called for road work to be complete before the complex opens.
In addition to heralding the premiere of a new showcase for soccer in the Washington area, this weekend also will be viewed by many as a gauge of how well county officials and the nonprofit Maryland Soccer Foundation have addressed the community's wishes.
"They've tried to do everything the community has asked for, but this first tournament will clearly be a test case. Hopefully, it will go well," said Nancy Dacek (R-Upcounty), who represents the area on the County Council. "But I think this facility and this park are of major importance to the area."
The SoccerPlex will occupy about a quarter of the 655-acre South Germantown Recreational Park. Since 1996, the park has been envisioned as a much-needed major recreational facility for booming Germantown and the surrounding upcounty communities. Initially, it was planned for 13 soccer fields as well as a variety of other venues, such as tennis courts, a BMX bicycle track, miniature golf, and a swimming center.
The vision for the SoccerPlex did not emerge until about a year later, when a group of Montgomery County soccer parents--including Discovery Communications Inc. chairman and CEO John Hendricks and his wife, Maureen--formed the Maryland Soccer Foundation. Hendricks pitched the idea to Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D), and County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D). Both were enthusiastic, and Duncan proposed locating the facility at the South Germantown park.
"If it wasn't for this public-private partnership, it would have been years before we could have gotten this project built," Duncan said this week. "And this is a project that we needed to help us catch up with the need in Germantown."
In addition to the SoccerPlex, the park will include the county's largest aquatic center, featuring an Olympic-size pool, diving platforms and an outdoor splash park. There will be an adventure playground, a tennis center with nine indoor courts and four outdoor courts, a golf driving range, an archery range and paved bike paths running throughout. In the middle, work is underway for a 40-acre "Central Park" with a pond, lots of trees and paths for walking.
Some of those non-soccer facilities--estimated to cost more than $23 million in public funds--are scheduled to open next year, with the others ready by 2003.
Yet soccer will clearly be the main event here. By 2004, all 24 soccer fields are slated to be ready for play.
The Maryland Soccer Foundation, which will run the SoccerPlex, is financing its $15 million cost through a variety of sources. County league players will contribute $20 a year each for five years, raising $2 million. The Hendrickses have contributed $1 million, as has Discovery Communications. The rest is being raised from individual donors and corporate sponsors, and officials hope to sell naming rights to the complex and its fields.
In addition, state and county governments have allotted $8 million for infrastructure costs such as roads, parking lots and utilities.
Last weekend, with the rumble of heavy equipment in the distance, some local youth teams got a chance to kick the ball around on two of the crisp new fields. On field No. 4, the Red Devils from Rockville--an enthusiastic bunch of ruddy-cheeked boys from the under-12 division of Montgomery Soccer Inc.--gathered around Bill Bernetich, who was subbing as coach, waiting for the second half to start.
"It's fantastic," Bernetich said, assessing the SoccerPlex. "The fields are pristine. The grass is great. There are no bumps on the surface. It's just a great place for the kids to play."
Unprompted, the kids nodded and jumped in with their own assessments.
"It's easy to kick on this field."
"We play on a lot of fields that are bumpy, and this one isn't."
"It looks like they made it with lasers."
In fact, they did. Across the parking lot, Hendricks was watching his daughter, Beth, practice with her team, the Bethesda Falcons. As he stood on the sidelines, he talked about the quality of the fields.
Laser graders were used to give the fields a smoothness that many college coaches would envy. Each field has its own irrigation system to keep the grass green, and each is convenient to parking and comfort stations, and has vistas of the surrounding woods and hills. Among them is a "championship field," where key matches will be played in front of as many as 3,200 spectators seated in bleachers.
"This is state of the art," said Hendricks, who also is playing a key role in the creation of a new professional women's soccer league. "This project, the way it came together, has the potential to be a model for other places to follow."
National soccer officials agree.
Dan Flynn, the secretary general of the U.S. Soccer Federation, said demand for playing fields continues to grow across the country, particularly, he said, for high-quality fields. "There is a real need for fields where you can play the higher-end showcase events," he said. "And this facility will clearly help do that."
Officials say soccer is the fastest-growing team sport in the country. In Montgomery County alone, there are 25,000 youth soccer players. But because of a lack of available playing fields, hundreds of kids have been turned away from league participation in recent years. Supporters cited this as one of the key reasons for the facility, as well as the lack of a viable facility to host tournaments.
The SoccerPlex will be the site of six tournaments each year. The rest of the time the fields will be used for league play. Trish Heffelfinger, executive director of the Maryland Soccer Foundation, said most of the teams playing at the facility on a regular basis will be from Montgomery County, with a significant number of those from the Germantown area.
This weekend, the SoccerPlex will host the annual Washington Area Girls Soccer League (WAGS) tournament, which officials said is considered the largest and most prestigious tournament for girls in the country. All of the women on last year's U.S. World Cup team at one time participated in the tournament, officials said.
In all, 144 teams will play in tournament games at the SoccerPlex. Some will come from as far away as California and Texas. Others are from places closer to home, including Montgomery, Frederick County, Baltimore County and Northern Virginia.
Officials say they expect about 6,000 people each day to attend tournament events at the SoccerPlex this weekend. They also said they expect that the necessary road improvements--including a new road connecting the Soccerplex to Route 118--will be ready on time to ensure that traffic flow will be smooth during the first weekend of operations.
Neighbors are hoping that is the case. "Right now, it appears everybody's working together to make things work out," said Robert Skelton, who lives within walking distance of the SoccerPlex. Skelton, as well as other nearby residents, believe their concerns have not always been given priority, but he thinks there have been signs that relations have improved.
"I'm cautiously optimistic," he said. "Everybody's realizing we're going to have to live together."