Latest news RSS Feed
Print Story
E-mail StoryKickoff time: Bakersfield gets indoor soccer arena
| Wednesday, Mar 26 2008 4:51 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Mar 27 2008 7:34 AM
Construction on an indoor soccer facility in northwest Bakersfield is under way to prepare for league play kickoff about mid-April.
Our readers recommend:
Loading Stories
To find out more about playing at The Vision Zone, send an e-mail to: info@zoneindoor.com.
The arena’s Web site, www.zoneindoor.com, may be live in the next week or so.
Photos:
Iron workers walk up their ladders with a length of iron in hand as they put together the new indoor soccer facility on Well Tech Way.
Iron workers John Breon, left, and Dustin Welch, with Hoffman Steel Structures Inc., put up the steel shell of the new indoor soccer facility. It is owned by Steve and Shelli Odgen and will be operated by Visions in Sports.
Graphics:
The Vision Zone arena, the city’s first dedicated indoor soccer facility in years, will be open to kids through adults, said Gary Cheatwood, who’s part of a group of several soccer enthusiasts called Visions in Sports.
Like many ventures, this opportunity started with a friendly conversation.
Visions in Sports’ Tony Fox approached Steve Ogden, who owns a concrete business, about providing land for the site. Ogden estimates he’s spent about $350,000 on site development and arena construction costs. He and his wife, Shelli, own the land on Well Tech Way.
Fox used to own Soccer Warehouse on Ming Avenue and Soccer Warehouse Plus on Rosedale Highway but closed the stores because of slumping sales.
The indoor facility will feature Soccer Warehouse Pro, Fox said, a miniature version of what he used to operate. It will sell indoor soccer gear, and outdoor soccer equipment can be ordered.
His wife, Roxanne, will operate the shop. The insulated metal building will also feature bleachers, vending machines and coolers and fans.
The court surface is designed to be forgiving on athletes’ bodies.
Costs for playing at The Vision Zone will range from $250 to $450, depending on players’ ages, and teams may have up to 12 members on their rosters. Seasons will last 10 weeks. Cheatwood said the site could host weeknight and weekend play, four seasons a year.
If there’s demand, Ogden has room to build several more arenas on his property.
It’s been years since Bakersfield has had a dedicated spot for indoor soccer.
The North of the River Recreation and Park District offers indoor soccer on a basketball court at the Greenacres Community Center. The district charges $325 per team, said John Henderson, sports supervisor.
The city is putting the finishing touches on a multi-use covered facility at Saunders Park, said Allen Abe, assistant director of the Recreation and Parks Department. It’s designed for roller hockey, indoor soccer and basketball play. Abe said it may be ready for use by early May, but information about scheduling and costs is to be determined.
“The beautiful game” may be this town’s sport. Fox said the community has more than 16,000 players of all ages. Soccer coach and enthusiast Sunny Kapoor said kids can especially benefit from playing the game indoors.
“When you play outdoors on a full pitch, as a soccer player, you may touch the ball maybe 10 times,” he said. “In an indoor game, you touch the ball maybe 40, 50 times. For younger kids, it gives them an opportunity to get more touches (and) better touches on the ball.”