Courtesy: Grand Junction Daily Sentinel


Expanding Fire

New property will help Fire FC grow soccer in Grand Valley

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Fire FC already boasts one of the largest club soccer footprints on the Western Slope, with numerous teams, tournaments and a multi-use indoor facility.

That footprint potentially got an upgrade this winter after the club purchased two acres of land near Horizon Drive at 2791 Printers Court.

Located behind the Courtyard Marriott, the planned 17,000-square-foot indoor facility will feature office space and a 100 feet by 150 feet playing area, which can serve as one large playing surface or broken down into three smaller futsal courts. Futsal is indoor soccer with three or four players on each side with a smaller, hard, indoor playing surface and often a smaller ball and nets.

Fire FC plans to open the facility next winter, depending on fundraising, as a replacement for its current facility at 552 25 Road.

“We lease the space we’re in right now and it’s been really good for us, but we’re starting to outgrow it,” said Shaun Howe, executive director of Fire FC. “There wasn’t enough space for the kids we have, and this new facility will be five or six times larger.”

For comparison, the current Fire FC indoor facility houses one indoor futsal court with walls similar to a hockey rink.

The new layout will instead feature nets that can be hoisted to free up a larger playing surface for seven-on-seven games.

Howe said the indoor facility could help grow soccer in the Grand Valley in an unexpected way. The club purchased the land from John and Ann Mueller, who sold it for $80,000 less than the land’s appraised value as a gift to the club.

In terms of building the facility, Howe said they will take out a smaller loan with a payment similar to the lease of their current facility and look to raise roughly $200,000 from donations. Once the loan is paid off, Howe said he plans to use the money saved to offset costs in the club’s rec program. The goal to have more people playing soccer.

“I understand that competitive soccer isn’t for everyone and it can be very expensive,” Howe said. “Hopefully this will help some of our kids be able to play locally and it can be a hub for soccer on the Western Slope. We can get (an Olympic Development Program) in here, and bring those people in so kids can play locally while still getting a high level of competition. The end goal is, once we pay this thing off, then we want to use it to offset costs for our rec program and get more people playing. We want to continue trying to make it the biggest sport in the valley and get people in who couldn’t play before.”

Howe said the facility will get more summertime use than Fire’s current building as a way to “keep kids out of the sun” and “give us somewhere to play when Canyon View (Park) doesn’t want us on the surface.”

The second phase of the plan, depending on the final layout and organization of the new facility, could include an outdoor court with a similar look to an outdoor hockey rink. Lights could be added in the future.

“We still have some things to work out,” Howe said. “But we’re very excited.”

Donations can be made at http://www.gjsoccer.org/Default.aspx?tabid=400149, or by visiting gjsoccer.org and clicking on “Donate” under the “Our Club” tab.



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com