Playing fields need improvement

To the editor,

The Little League baseball and softball seasons have recently come to an end. For the most part, I’m sure the kids had fun – particularly after the school year they have all gone through. But, as a coach, it became quite evident that the facilities used for games and practices in the Kennebunks and Arundel are woefully inferior to what the towns around us have access to. This year, because so many neighboring towns didn’t have enough kids to run their own town leagues, Kennebunk-Kennebunkport-Arundel Little League joined several towns in York County to form a league.

Our kids played home games in Kennebunk and hit the road to play away games. Just about every town we traveled to had very nice fields with announcers’ booths, electronic scoreboards (that worked), snack bars, and most noticeably, rest rooms. Their fields were well manicured and our kids always commented on how nice the fields were.

Conversely, when those teams came to our fields, it was not uncommon to hear visiting coaches and some parents ask if this was really the field we were playing on? I’m sure many Kennebunk/Kennebunkport/Arundel residents are totally unaware of any issue. The differences between Kennebunk’s youth fields and other neighboring towns is blatantly obvious.

Anyone questioning the quality of the fields our kids use for baseball and softball as well as other sports can simply take a drive by the Middle School of the Kennebunks’ diamonds. The rest of the town’s fields are a little better.

Before we headed home from a recent visit to Connecticut, I saw there was a baseball game being played across the street from where I was getting gas. I drove over to watch for a few minutes and commented to my wife about how nice the field was. Her response was,”every field we see is nice compared to what we have.”

I believe there are a couple of different departments responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the athletic fields in our community and I know other organizations, besides Little League, use the fields. I’m pretty sure many of the volunteers for the various groups would be willing to help whoever is responsible for the upkeep of these fields/facilities.

Perhaps a meeting of the town departments and representatives from the various organizations could result in a plan to work together to maintain these fields. The grass shouldn’t be predominantly weeds and our community sports complexes should be at least somewhat comparable to those of surrounding communities. I’m sure there are many people who are willing to work on the fields if they only knew how their efforts would be best utilized.

In closing, I am just a coach and not speaking for Little League. I’m a grandfather who has been involved in youth sports in the Kennebunks for many years and, to be honest, I didn’t realize the disparity of our fields to those of surrounding communities. If there is anyone reading this that is in a position to help out financially – because I’m sure a lot of this is due to available resources – I’m sure the community would be very appreciative of any help offered. Little League officials can be contacted at kklittleleague@gmail.com.

John Hackett

Kennebunk