By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

The heads of three local sports organizations, Claremont American Youth Soccer Organization, Claremont Stars Soccer Club, and Claremont Fast Pitch Softball, say they’ve been raising concerns about the state of the fields at some heavily used city parks for at least three years, but that little has been done to address them. The fields of particular concern are Padua Avenue Park, 4200 Padua Ave., and La Puerta Sports Park, 2430 N. Indian Hill Blvd.

Claremont AYSO Region 3 Commissioner Alan Beacham, a member of the city’s Youth Sports Committee, said the fields contain problematic gopher holes, large dirt and mud patches, and insufficient lighting. Stars president Mike Oshay echoed similar concerns and added that the drainage system at Padua is inadequate, causing mud and water spots to accumulate.

Jessica Edwards, president of CFPS, shared in an email Monday that the organization has similar concerns about a number of gopher holes in the outfield at La Puerta. She added that improper lighting at La Puerta has caused scheduling conflicts for games and that the organization has had to call Claremont police to Wheeler Park because of someone’s “inappropriate behavior” towards players.

(L-R) Claremont American Youth Soccer Organization players Isaac Lamb, Nixon Dearden, and Caden Rose at Padua Avenue Park recently. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Claremont AYSO United girls 2014 central coach Chris Smith said he’s brought up issues about field conditions with city staff since the fall of 2021. He said the soccer fields at Padua have become difficult to play on, leading to his and other teams adopting a phrase called the “Padua bounce.” Due to field conditions there, Smith said the ball can take an unnatural bounce.

“It kind of ruins the gameplay for some of these girls,” Smith said. “They’ll be playing fantastic, and something weird happens and ruins everything that they’re trying to develop.”

Parents and coaches affiliated with Claremont AYSO have attributed injuries to unsafe field conditions. Monique Ott-Beacham, a coach with Claremont AYSO’s girls under-13 Wolves, of which her daughter is a player, said the conditions at La Puerta caused two recent ankle-related injuries on her team. At Padua in March, she said Randall Gonzalez injured his knee while officiating a match.

“In fairness, it was a compromised knee. I’ve had two surgeries on it,” Gonzalez said. “But I was refereeing … and I was on the upper field and I was running backwards to just sort of track with the motion of play and my foot got buried in a divot.”

Randall Gonzalez suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear recently due to a divot in a soccer field at Padua Avenue Park. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Though a doctor has yet to confirm, Gonzalez knows from past experience it’s likely an anterior cruciate ligament tear.

Claremont Little League, Foothill Storm Soccer Club, United States Youth Volleyball, and Western Christian School — which make up the YSC — did not respond to requests for comment. Claremont Youth Basketball and the Claremont Nighthawks, a running club, mainly use El Roble Intermediate School and Claremont High School facilities, and reported no issues with the facilities they use.

Frustration with the city parks stems particularly from ongoing safety concerns. “When you see somebody need to come off and stop playing because they stepped in a hole, it just feels so preventable,” Smith said.

Jeremy Swan, Claremont’s director of Community Services Department, wrote in an email that the city is aware of the concerns and “continually addresses” them. He also wrote, “The City has not received any injury concerns other than those voiced during meetings.”

Additional stress from youth sports organizers comes from a perceived lack of urgency by the city.

AYSO coach Ott-Beacham and Edwards, president of CFPS, contend volunteers take it upon themselves to conduct field maintenance before games, such as filling holes with sand or dirt.

“That’s what someone who gets paid — not a volunteer — should be doing,” Ott-Beacham said. “Every organization that uses these fields pays the city to be able to rent them, use the lights, use all these things, shouldn’t we expect that the fields are maintained?”

Swan wrote that the city is responsible for maintaining all parks and fields, and pays a monthly $62,000 fee to Excel Landscape Inc. for park maintenance. He indicated the monthly payment for La Puerta Park landscape maintenance is $4,200 and $6,200 for Padua Park.

Commissioner Beacham said the youth sports committee, the body meant to hear concerns related to such activities, has not met since March 19, 2024 due to a lack of quorum. At that 2024 meeting, an athletic facilities update was agenized but it is unclear what was discussed, as meeting footage was not archived online, nor were meeting minutes adopted by YSC in the following months.

The lack of meetings with YSC has led Beacham and others to vocalize concerns at other city and commission meetings.

Parents, coaches and representatives want to see better maintained fields to ensure the safety of users. When asked about potential solutions, ideas included a complete restoration of fields, the implementation of a mandatory rest period, gopher hole treatment, an update to La Puerta’s dugouts and bleachers, and increased lighting at park restrooms.

Oshay said another solution was to revisit Padua Avenue Park’s original plans, an idea he said has spoken about with Claremont City Council member Ed Reece and City Manager Adam Pirrie for three years.

Before it broke ground, Padua Avenue Park was proposed to be a sports complex. The full scope of the project was estimated to be between $10 to $12 million. The work was divided into multiple parts.

“On September 23, 2008, the City Council awarded a construction contract for Phase 1 and Phase 1A of Padua Park,” Reece wrote in an email. “This included the soccer fields, restrooms, parking lot, and walking trail. The cost for Phase 1 and 1A was approximately $2.94 million. Despite researching grants and other funding, the City has not identified the additional funding to complete the other phases of the Padua Park plan.”

Oshay said he knows people interested in supplying at least $7 million toward constructing a sports complex at Padua Avenue Park. Commissioner Beacham said Claremont AYSO is also willing to contribute funds to cover a solution.

“If funding were to become available, the City would evaluate the development of the remaining phases of Padua Park, along with other opportunities for improvements in parks throughout the City,” Pirrie wrote in an email.

“Ultimately, what we want to see is a promise from the city that something is actually going to be done about these parks,” Christina Olivarria, a Claremont AYSO board member, said.