Our youngest son, Smyth, is a freshmen in high school. He played football, is currently playing basketball and plans to try out for baseball. He loves team sports and will play them as long as he can handle academics and the practice schedules. Once he retires from high school sports, he will remain active physically, as it is in his blood. He enjoys practicing, even an off-season sport, even by himself. On Monday he experienced something that he just didn't understand. An adult told him to leave a school field because he might "damage the grass."Now a little background for those of you who do not live in our area. We have had an incredible sunny January, and that is rare for Oregon. Usually our winters are rainy and gray. Because of our unusual weather the ground is hard, which is also rare in the winter. Usually in winter our ground is really soft, but not this year as we have had very little rain this month. We live in the boundary of the Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District, also known as THPRD. This is a non-profit organization that oversees parks, fields and recreation centers in our area and receives its funding through property taxes and user fees. Our school district has an agreement with THPRD as far as field use goes. Without knowing the exact details, THPRD maintains most of the schools' fields in exchange for running various sports leagues on them. In the Fall and Spring the field use is in high demand for soccer, baseball, and softball. Some fields even have cricket games going strong. But in the winter, the fields usually sit in wait for Spring. The field Smyth was on is our local elementary school, and is used daily for recess when the weather permits.
Monday was a grading day for the teachers in our school district. Smyth had basketball practice at the high school in the morning to start his day off. Since the sun was out in the afternoon, Smyth lugged a tee stand, bat bag and bucket of 54 baseballs over to Elmonica. He set the tee stand up on the area that once was home plate and began to take his cuts. Since he was by himself, his plan was to hit all 54 balls then run out and pick them all up. His goal was to hit about 100 times. Keep in mind, high school baseball try outs are around the corner and Smyth has taken the initiative to prepare himself on his own. On the third cut, an employee of THPRD came from across the soccer field (near the portables for those that know Elmonica) towards Smyth. He then yelled "you're going to ruin the grass, get off the field." Really? REALLY?!! The ground is hard, he is standing in a dirt infield, so this guy is worried that a baseball landing the outfield is going to ruin the grass. Wow. Smyth is respectful so did what he was told. He gathered up his three baseballs, packed up his bucket and bat bag, grabbed the tee and walked back home. Besides the fact that this adult said something ridiculous, there was a deeper message. We have adults in our community that tell kids who want to be outside and play, to go home. Go home and do what, play video games? Should my son be content on a beautiful day in January to play baseball on an xbox? No! He needs fresh air, he needs to practice to make the high school baseball team, he needs to build up endurance and strength and he needs to move those muscles around the outfield picking up all those balls to get his heart rate elevated.
We live in a time when obesity is considered a common childhood disease. In 1980 only 5% of adolescents were considered obese. Today one in three adolescents are obese (American Heart Association). Diabetes in children is also on the rise due to sedentary lifestyles and weight gain (CDC). Now there are some kids who are prone to diabetes because of family history and/or ethnic background, so this rise in statistics is not due to them. It is directly related to the increase in childhood obesity. Kids today are leading more sedentary life styles than just a generation ago. Even the NFL recognizes that kids today need to engage in physical activity. The NFL and the American Heart Association joined forces to launch a program to encourage kids today to have physical activity for 60 minutes per day year round.
Healthy lifestyle choices aside, if the THPRD employee was more concerned with the state of the grass in January than the needs of a teen who wanted to practice his skills, he still doesn't have a leg to stand on. My husband coached Little League baseball for eleven years on these fields. Last year was his 12th and he helped coach a JBO (Junior Baseball Organization) team. Prior to that he coached high school baseball and even took his team to the State Championship. He is skilled in field prep and the care of baseball fields, and used to hand mow his infield rather than let maintenance roll over it with their big cutters. Monday's weather was not a threat to field maintenance, and Smyth knew that when he packed his gear.
I believe there must be a disconnect somewhere in the bureaucracy of THPRD for this employee to be more concerned with the dormant grass than a teenager engaging in appropriate physical activity. The THPRD Mission Statement states that they want to "provide high quality park and recreation facilities.......to meet the needs of the diverse communities" it serves. Quite possibly this employee confused the school yard/dormant field with one of it's parks? Because I thought school fields were to be used for recreation. I believe Smyth carrying his own equipment a few blocks to the school's field falls within the guidelines of recreating. It is not vandalism to hit baseballs on a baseball field. Yet that is how he was made to feel as he was kicked off the field. All because he might damage the grass by playing on it.
When I called THPRD I was told by the person who schedules field use that they are technically closed to groups from December 1st to March 1st to rest the fields. While I understand that in most Januarys the fields are soft from rainfall, this was not the case on Monday. Also my son was there by himself, not practicing with a team or even a group of friends. So is it really THPRD's policy to kick a single kid off of an elementary school field because he wanted to hit baseballs? When I pointed out that this is the same field kids play on during recess I was told that THPRD can't dictate to the schools when they can use their fields. But apparently THPRD can dictate to a 14 year old boy that he can't hit baseballs on a baseball field.
The underlying message to a young teenager is this: the grass holds more value than him. An adult in an authoritative position told him to get off the grass on a perfectly fine day. What then is a teenage boy to do if we allow authorities to tell them to stop doing something constructive? I don't have to look any further than the newspaper to find the answer. Common sense was not considered when one person enforced a rule designed to keep teams from over using a field. The rule is not there to keep good kids off a school baseball field that hasn't been prepped for play in a couple of years. When I spoke with the person in charge of field maintenance, I was assured this incident would be used as an educational opportunity with his staff. No one should tell a kid playing on a school field to go home because he might damage the grass.
