How do you know it's Spring in Ladera Ranch?  Soccer!  Over the years, Ladera Ranch has seen tremendous growth in youth soccer.  Other sports have added to their number as well, including Little League baseball and NFL Youth Football.  For each of these sports to thrive, it requires dedicated players, coaches, parents and a place to practice and play.  It also requires a heavy amount of administration of field use by the Ladera Ranch Maintenance Corporation (LARMAC). 

American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) Region 1455 has long been the biggest game in town, but recently it has been facing criticism from Ladera-based coaches and organizers of Saddleback Valley Soccer Association (SVSA) for, as they say, failing to give back unused field times and share in Ladera's scarce turf resources.

In a recent sit-down at the Ladera Times weekly "lunch bunch" (Fridays, 12-2PM at Infusion), Keith Townson, Director of the SVSA Ladera Ranch Region voiced his concerns over the way LARMAC manages the fields.

"They [AYSO 1455] only use 80% of their permit times during the regular season, and 20-30% of it in the off season," said Townson.  Townson said that he conducted an extensive study of the field use, including photographing and video taping empty fields. 

Townson said that he would prefer a system where LARMAC would allocate fields based on residency and registration, so that leagues and teams with the most Ladera Ranch players would have a preference in the field scheduling.   

According to AYSO 1455 Regional Commissioner, Tim Leonard, a Ladera Ranch resident from Echo Ridge, "We're on track to have 2,100 kids this year.  Most of them are from Ladera Ranch, and we are the only league that plays exclusively in Ladera Ranch."  

SVSA has a total of 350 players in it's league, with 115 as part of the "Ladera Ranch Region".

115 vs. 2100 is about 5%, so in essence, SVSA is asking for 5% of the field space for practice and games.

"The only place we have in Ladera Ranch is the Oso Grande field, and that is for practices only," said Thomson.  "We have only been allowed to have one game on a turf field in Ladera Ranch and we had to ask for AYSO to give back that unused time."  Thomson said that there were no games scheduled for the entire day, but AYSO only allotted them 3 hours to play.

Leonard admitted that AYSO is more aware of the issue.  "We are all, LARMAC included, a little more aware of this now," he said.  "If nobody is going to use them, then we will give them back."

In addition to field use issues, Townson says that they are being over-billed.  According to LARMAC guidelines, a league must have 91% of its players as Ladera Ranch residents if it expects to get the field permits at a 90% discounted rate.  AYSO has a 95% residency rating and SVSA has a 93% rating.  But AYSO gets the 90% discount on permit rates while SVSA has been billed the full rate.  LARMAC's Community Director, Pat Berry said that after looking into the matter SVSA was initially billed at a 50% level, but they have never been re-billed and a new bill we be going out to them at the 90% discount level.

Townson was also concerned about damaged goals that are owned by LARMAC that have been claimed by AYSO, indicating that AYSO had put their stickers on the eqipment.  Pat Berry said, "AYSO has their own goals at the fields, and to my knowledge the stickers are only on their goals."  Townson admits that the goals in question are in what he calls the "goal graveyard" on Cox 2 and unusable.  Berry said that he had directed maintenance crews to remove any stickers on LARMAC owned goals.

Leonard said that his league had been making regular repairs to LARMAC-owned goals but that they are in such disrepair now that they are unsafe.  Townson says that SVSA has offered to pay for welding repairs to fix the goals, but requests to complete the work have gone unanswered by LARMAC and Merit Property Management for months.  Pat Berry indicated that some repairs had already been made and that LARMAC maintenance workers were awaiting parts to make repairs on the others.  

Above the back and forth, both leagues echoed sentiments about wanting it to be all about the kids.    

"What I would love," said Leonard, "is for one kid to make it into professional soccer who would say 'I got my start in AYSO Ladera'". 

"We would love for our kids to be able to play on the fields where they live," said Tompson.

More Info: 

http://www.laderalife.com

http://www.sbvsa.org

http://www.laderasoccer.com