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Youth Football Moves To Keystone Park

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By STEPHEN HAMMILL, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 8, 2007

ODESSA - Keystone Park is getting busy these days. On weekday evenings the grounds are filled with cars, parents and hundreds of youths.

The Citrus Park Bills of the Tampa Bay Youth Football League were relocated there this summer. The Bills formerly practiced on the grounds of Citrus Park Elementary.

The move was required to make room for 'Middle School RR,' which is under construction and planned to open for the 2008-09 school year.

The Citrus Park Bills are not a single team, but many - five football teams and five cheerleading squads - 250 kids in all. Their ages range from 4 to 14.

On July 30, they began holding practices at Keystone Park, 17928 Gunn Highway. An AAU baseball team, the Tampa Thunder, also became tenants of the park this year.

'We're serving 1,000 people from 6:15 to 8:15 every evening,' said Tim McClain, athletic director for the Citrus Park Bills.

'They came to us to find a place,' said Marc Thornton, director of the county's parks and recreation department. As part of the deal, the Bills agreed to put in an irrigation system.

McClain said the team was never officially informed by the Hillsborough County School Board about the need to move from their old home. 'The construction people actually told us,' he said. 'We had to abandon a brand-new concession stand and equipment room.'

He estimates they put about $7,000 worth of work into that field last year.

'And we spent almost $20,000 on this move,' he said. 'We paid for everything. The county didn't have any money.'

McClain understands the county's budget is stretched thin, but he says his sport gets the short end of the stick.

'For baseball, the county provides facilities; for soccer they provide complexes; for football they provide grass,' he said.

'We had a great relationship with Citrus Park Elementary,' McClain said. 'It was a shame having to leave, but Keystone Park is a great facility.'

Not everyone is thrilled with the arrangement.

The Keystone Civic Center sits on the grounds of the park. It is home to various classes and to meetings of the Keystone Civic Association.

The association is concerned that with so many kids and parents not from Keystone using the grounds, parking congestion will cause Keystone residents to stay away, compromising other programs.

'They are stuffing activities into a defined space with no management,' said Tom Aderhold, president of the civic association. 'No one from parks and recreation has laid out what the plans are to us.'

Barbara Dowling, an association board member, asked, 'Don't we have schools that have grounds that can be used? Schools are supposed to be neighborhood friendly, but they have fences up.'

'We couldn't get a meeting at Northwest Elementary because of liability issues and background checks,' she continued. 'It took us writing to the governor to get permission to meet there.'

McClain said they are trying to be good neighbors.

'We knew there was a civic association meeting last month so we stationed someone outside to direct parking,' he said.

The team has hired an architect to study the parking situation and design improvements. The league is concerned about emergency vehicle access.

The team may change its name because it no longer practices in Citrus Park. The Bills lost 11 members due to the move four miles north.

'I think in the long run it's a good thing for us,' McClain said. 'This is our new home.'

Reporter Stephen Hammill can be reached at (813) 865-1523 or at shammill@tampatrib.com.

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