News
Expanding, Popular Youth Sports Programs Vie for Time on Lighted Fields
|
So many sports teams in New Canaan use the town’s playing fields—including increasingly diversified and popular rec, private and multi-town travel programs—that it’s hard to accommodate every group seeking time under the lights in the evening, officials say. The difficulty is exacerbated with shorter days in the fall, according to members of a Board of Selectmen-appointed panel responsible for oversight of youth sports in town. For example, the dads who coach in the youth football and flag football programs often can’t get to New Canaan High School’s fields until after work, about 6 p.m., less than one hour before sunset, Recreation Director Steve Benko said during Monday’s meeting of the Youth Sports Committee. That its coaches are dads gives a football program less flexibility than, say, the New Canaan Soccer Association teams, which are coached by professionals with more availability earlier in the day, Benko said. “We cannot accommodate their [the NCSA’s] whole program” after dark, Benko said during the meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department.
