UPDATED: Dalton, Dalton Public Schools and Whitfield County expected to finish soccer projects by summer

Published 11:25 am Tuesday, January 25, 2022

The Greater Dalton area currently has no FIFA-size soccer fields. By this summer it should have four.

FIFA is an international governing body for soccer.

Saif Alsafeer, head soccer coach at Dalton State College, said the new fields will “have a tremendous impact on the local soccer community.”

“There’s a lot of soccer being played in the community, and there’s a lot of talent in the community,” he said. “That talent needs to be nurtured and properly nurtured, and one way to do that is with proper facilities. Our young people are playing on fields that aren’t up to the elite level. That may not be a huge stumbling block, but it is a stumbling block. And it’s being removed.”

Alsafeer said just adding field space will also help.

“That lack of field space has presented a real difficulty,” he said. “Everyone has done a great job of sharing the field space we do have. That’s a credit to all of the coaches in the area. But adding these fields will give everyone greater opportunities to train, and to train on good pitches.”

Riverbend Park

Whitfield County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jevin Jensen said Shaw Industries has said the county will receive the turf for the field under construction at Riverbend Park “in late February or early March.”

“They are waiting for material to come in so they can run it through the machines,” he said. “We are No. 2 on their list, and they will have crews out there to install it.”

County officials had expected to receive the turf in December but said Shaw was having trouble getting the raw material.

Jensen said the county is still on track for an April 8 grand opening of Riverbend Park, which is being built on 75 acres of land off Collins Road near Southeast Whitfield High School. The $13 million park is funded by a four-year, $66 million Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) approved by county voters in 2020. The SPLOST is a 1% sales tax on most goods sold in the county.

The park will also have four baseball/softball fields and a 30,000-square-feet gym/community center with two basketball courts, two meeting rooms, a walking track, staff office space, team dressing rooms and a covered pavilion on the back side of the building.

The grand opening will feature a softball game between the USA Patriots and local firefighters and law enforcement officers. According to the group’s website (usapatriotsathletics.org), “the USA Patriots, formerly known as the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team, is a nonprofit … whose mission is to bring athletic and veteran amputees together to promote the benefits of inclusive sport and therapeutic recreational activities.”

Heritage Point Park

The city of Dalton is using part of its share of the 2020 SPLOST funds to build two FIFA-size soccer fields at Heritage Point Park.

The SPLOST referendum included $11.175 million for the soccer fields and for renovations to the John Davis Recreation Center. The SPLOST proposal as presented to the public indicated the city would build a new John Davis Recreation Center.

City officials had planned to use $8.5 million of SPLOST money to completely rebuild the rec center. But City Administrator Andrew Parker said the soccer complex had been “under-budgeted” in the SPLOST and was going to cost more than planned, leaving less money for the rec center.

“The soccer fields project plan development occurred prior to most other city SPLOST projects, and during the process, it became apparent rather quickly that the original estimation was far too low,” said city of Dalton Communications Director Bruce Frazier. “Engineers’ estimates on the soccer project increased to $7 million once a preliminary plan was developed. At that point, the current administration revised the internal allocation of the original $11.175 million to $7.075 million for the soccer complex project and $4.1 million for the John Davis Center renovations.”

Parker recently told the city’s Finance Committee members the fields are on target for a June opening. The Finance Committee is comprised of the City Council members.

“We are under contract with Northwest Georgia Paving and Advanced Sports Group to perform that work,” he said. “We have had utility coordination and a pre-construction meeting. Right now, we are reviewing the final striping and layouts before they start manufacturing turf.”

A crew was at work Tuesday, clearing timber from the property just east of Park Creek School.

At their Jan. 17 meeting the City Council members approved a $20,000 change order to the project. The fields were originally laid out only as large fields. The change order calls for also sewing in striping for two youth fields on each field.

“Our goal is to have it wrapped up by mid-June,” Parker said.

Parker said members of the local cricket community have approached the city about using the fields. Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 that is popular in many parts of the world including the Caribbean, India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and southern Africa.

Cricket is played regularly on a privately-owned athletic field at a 21.8-acre site at 1140 Tunnel Hill Varnell Road in Varnell.

Dalton Stadium

The fourth FIFA-size soccer field will be at Dalton Stadium, which is under construction on the campus of The Dalton Academy and Dalton Junior High School. 

The stadium, which will seat roughly 3,000, will also host football and lacrosse and will serve several schools in the Dalton Public Schools system. The city will reimburse Dalton Public Schools up to $847,164 for the turf as a part of an intergovernmental agreement that will allow the city to use the field when it is not in use by the school system. The stadium is expected to open in late February or early March.

Alsafeer said he hopes Dalton State soccer will be able to play on this field for its home games.

“This will be a first-class facility, top of the line,” he said. “It will be the best in the NAIA. I think it will be one of the best in college soccer. That brings a level of excitement to our program at Dalton State. It brings a level of professionalism to our program, enhancing the student athletes’ experience and the fan experience.”

The NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) is the college sports program in which Dalton State College competes.

Staff writer Ryan Anderson contributed to this story.