Town of Batavia Board Members:

My name is Jeremy Havens and I am the President of the Genesee Amateur Soccer Association.  A couple of months ago I attended your town meeting with Ted Hawley to discuss the option of using Turf Farms as a town park in hopes of obtaining more greenspace for youth sports in our area.  As you are well aware, the amount of children participating in youth sports in Batavia and our surrounding towns and villages is growing.  Not only are the numbers of children in established sports rising, but the interest in new sports to our area such as lacrosse and rugby are starting to take off as well.  Although we are excited to see youth sports organizations such as GASA growing, the amount of playing fields have not.  As a matter of fact, they have actually done the opposite over time.  Whether due to development of open space or rising cost of maintenance and/or insurance, the amount of greenspace in our area has been compromised.  Most recently, Genesee Community College has suspended all summer programs from playing on their fields until, presumably, next year.  In an instant, the greenspace went from an issue to a dilemma.  GASA, in order to accomodate other youth sports organizations, has cut the amount of games that will be played this season from the Under 8 division and up.  On paper the game schedules looked good for GASA as well as the Genesee Lancers.  But games are only 25% of what we are.  The other 75% is practice and that is where these two clubs take a drastic hit.  As I mentioned, we only have so much greenspace so overcrowding is inevitable.  We cannot avoid it.  With overcrowding there will not only be smaller practice space for the teams but higher traffic at Lions Park, Cedar Street and Farrell Park to name a few.

GASA represents the highest child registration of all the organizations in Genesee County.  This year we have 465+ kids registered to play this summer.  With GASA going "global" this past offseason making our advertising much more efficient, it is not overly optimistic to believe we could eclipse 500 kids within 2 years.  For us, it is about the kids.  Just as any other youth sports organization we work hard as volunteers to make sure that the children only need to focus on having fun playing a sport I grew up loving.  Part of that is getting them on the field and making it as convenient as possible for the parents to do it.  Unfortunately, due to the sporadic placement of divisions, some children will not get the opportunity to play this season because of siblings playing at multiple locations.  This is happening more and more each year and it is sad.  Our hands are tied.  We make due with what we have.  If there is any way that GASA can help you move forward on the Turfs Farms, please let us know how we can assist you.  Our kids depend on it.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Havens

GASA President