Introduction:

Individuals of all ages play soccer in the City of Davis, whether it be youth soccer (e.g., AYSO, DLSC) or adult soccer (e.g., intramural soccer at UC Davis, DARSL). The most common time to play soccer during the week days is after work/school, and many days during the year it gets dark early. One of the barriers to soccer participation experienced by members of the soccer community in Davis is the lack of lit field space. Most of the lit soccer spaces in the city (i.e., DLSC fields, Playfields and Davis High School) are either not open to the public or are reserved indefinitely. Some members of the adult soccer community have resorted to playing small-sided soccer (or futsal) on lit tennis courts. This has become increasingly popular because small-sided games are easy to organize and fun to play, and lit tennis courts are the only option for playing spontaneous soccer with a group after dark. Unfortunately, tennis courts are less-than-ideal surface for futsal for a number of reasons: (1) the tennis nets are oriented in such a way that the futsal field must perpendicular to the tennis court, meaning that one futsal field takes up two tennis courts and light poles are in the middle of the field; (2) the many cracks on the surface increase the risk of injury; (3) the hardness of the tennis court surface is not ideal for falls; (4) soccer balls fly into other courts since individual courts are not enclosed. Thus, we are proposing to repurpose some of the lit tennis courts in Davis into lit futsal courts, or build designated lit futsal courts in vacant space.

Proposed Location:

Walnut Park (2700 Lillard Dr.)

Walnut Park is home to six hard clay tennis courts, organized into three 120 x 120 ft fenced spaces. The courts have dangerous cracks, some at least 4 inches wide. We propose converting one of the three spaces into 2 futsal courts.

Projected Cost:

Low estimate: The current tennis court serves as the foundation to sport-court style flooring. The cost for flooring material to cover two 60 x 120 ft courts is approximately $40,000.

High estimate: Destroy the aged tennis court, lay concrete foundation, and install outdoor sport-court flooring on new concrete. Cost: $80,000