Valley Chamber really on the ball

There is little doubt that sports are a year-round passion for many folks in the Spokane Valley.

We seem to be especially interested in anything that involves our kids - junior soccer, AAU basketball, club volleyball, youth baseball and softball.

In a few weeks, the icy blanket that has covered the Spokane Valley since early November will begin to disappear.

Tulips will once again be poking their colorful heads out of the ground to remind us that yet another spring is at hand. Of course, this means it's time to sweep off the tennis courts, to start swinging the baseball bat, to give the old soccer ball a swift kick. Sports are alive and well in the Spokane Valley!

For this reason I am delighted to learn that the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce's new tourism committee has taken up the cause of promoting the Valley as a regional youth sports mecca.

In addition to helping spread the word about the fine facilities we already have - notably, the beautiful new Plantes Ferry soccer and softball complex and the two ice rinks at Liberty Lake - the committee also would like to see more sporting venues in the Valley.

There has been talk about a new acquatics center for swimming and diving competitions, and also about building a 60,000-square-foot fieldhouse that could be used for basketball, volleyball, wrestling and other indoor sports.

Of course, our Valley youth will benefit from using these facilities.

Almost every parent would agree, I think, that involvement in some kind of sport, at some point in their lives, provides a positive outlet for young people.

But these additional sports facilities bring with them another very significant benefit:

Tourism.

These facilities would be a magnet, drawing young athletes and their families to the Valley from around the region.

Last summer, when only about half of the 13 new fields at the Plantes Ferry soccer complex were ready for play, a youth soccer tournament drew about 1,000 young players and their families.

These young people come to play, but their parents - and often their brothers and sisters, even their grandparents - come along to shop and eat.

It is easy to see how popular youth soccer has become. Drive around the Valley on a Saturday morning in fall or spring and check out the parking lots at Plantes Ferry or at the many local schools with soccer fields. All those minivans have hauled young players and also the families who have come out to support and encourage their children.

Wouldn't it be great if we could use the growing popularity of youth sports to create a tourism boom here in the Valley?

An area that can boast healthy and wholesome family activities has the ability to encourage visitors to spend their money locally.

These visiting families come to the Valley and spend money in area stores, restaurants and hotels. This kind of spending creates a healthy business environment, which enhances the area and benefits the people who live here.

The Valley Chamber's tourism committee is hoping that money for this proposed expansion of our youth sports facilities would come from the funding package that would pay for the proposed expansion of the downtown Spokane Convention Center.

Those pushing the convention center expansion proposal know that some sort of Valley component is necessary in order to sell the plan to voters countywide.

There has been talk about using money from this financing package to pay for improvement of the county fairgrounds.

There is no doubt in my mind that our fairgrounds could use some attention.

But I believe that money would be better spent putting the Spokane Valley on the map as the region's youth sports headquarters.

What a healthy way to promote and enhance our community.

Copyright 2001 Cowles Publishing Company
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