Are Amarillo’s Youth Sports Complexes About To Get A Renovation?

Youth sports in Amarillo on definitely on the rise. We've seen a massive increase in participation which has created a need for new facilities, and improvement of current facilities.

Recently, the Amarillo Wranglers 14U hockey team won their "world series" in the hockey world, showing that we have some seriously talented athletes in the area.

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The city hasn't exactly been known as a hotbed for athletes making it to the pros in any sport, aside from a few successes we haven't really had athletes be able to grab hold. Part of that could be exposure, but part of that is not having the facilities to get better.

Both of my boys play travel baseball, so I'm pretty entrenched in the youth sports scene as I also do a lot of coaching. While we do have several facilities to play ball, they are behind many other complexes in the region.

When I say behind, I talk about amenities, fields, maintenance, etc. The crew that works on these fields is small, and overworked at times. They do a great job with the limited crew they have but there are so many improvements that could be made.

We have the ability to bring in a ton of tax dollars and business to the area. These baseball tournaments, if done properly, bring in 175-200 teams per tournament, but they only come if you have the proper facilities.

If you do the math, 175 teams with let's say 11 player per team. That's 1,925 kids alone. Now, tack on a set of parents for each kid. That's nearly 6,000 people in the city at one time. Restaurants and businesses greatly benefit from THAT many people being in one place at one time.

Amarillo could be booming year-round with the right facilities. We look for ways to improve traffic to the city, generate revenue, etc. and it starts with youth sports.

I was chatting with someone in the baseball world the other day and they were talking about how there is potentially a bond being put together that would in turn be put in front of us for voting. It was to turf infields at one of the biggest baseball facilities in Amarillo.

I can tell you this. Turfing the infields would do SO MUCH not only for the city, but for the talent in Amarillo. Having to re-raze the fields to level them out would allow them a truer field to play on.

For the city? Less maintenance would be needed, thus saving on having a crew constantly working on the field. Tournaments could still be played if some rain fell as the turf fields dry infinitely quicker than the dirt ones. There have been several tourneys canceled over the last few years because of rain and muddy fields.

When those tournaments are canceled, the city loses the revenue that would come with the people staying in hotels, eating at our restaurants, and shopping at our stores.

So, if this is indeed something that comes to fruition and is placed on a ballot in the near future, I implore you to PLEASE think about the incredible amount of positive ramifications it could mean for our city, and our youth.

They deserve the best we can give them, and I promise you, you will be rewarded for it as well, even if you don't have kids in the youth sports world.