WSA_Youth and Family Master Plan Phase I - September 2009

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players living around a park. Possible leagues that could benefit from the use of this field are California Youth Soccer, Boy Scouts Soccer, and Santa Ana Youth Soccer Association, all of which have a fair amount of their players residing in this area. Valley High School also merits consideration for more programming on its fields for similar reasons. The half-mile radius surrounding the school is home to about 433 registered players in Santa Ana soccer leagues, making it the second most densely populated buffer zone. In 2008, Valley could have been used 6 more hours per week. One possible league that would benefit from the Valley fields is the California Youth Soccer Association. Although only 79% of California Youth Soccer Association's registered players reside in Santa Ana, 39% of the players within ahalf-mile radius of Valley play for this league. Heritage Park is another field that is being under-used. In 2008, the field was under-used about 4 hours per week. Although the buffer zone around this park is not as populated by registered players as other areas, the leagues using the fields do not accurately represent the zones demographics. Currently, 50% of the players living within ahalf-mile radius of Heritage Park are part of the Santa Ana Youth Soccer Association, however, none of the teams in SAYSA are using this field. Additionally the leagues that do use Heritage Park comprise of less than 23% of the resident players in that area. Furthermore, seven of the 9 soccer leagues surveyed noted that one of the barriers to accessing these leagues and programs was the location where they are being offered. By more adequately allocating field permits to the leagues with greatest need and based on proximity of the players living in the area of the field, more youth may be able to participate in these athletic programs, and the fields will be used more efficiently. This will start a process to support legitimate non-profit soccer organizations with the goals and objectives to serve youth that want to play soccer in the best way possible. By incentivizing those leagues who are interested in supporting neighborhood youth with strong soccer programming and life- skills, there is an opportunity for some leagues to benefit from potential benefits such as lower fees or first priority in field selection. ACC ~ ~' ~~ i.~r In April 2009, a randomized representative sample was identified from the City of Santa Ana unduplicated youth soccer rosters. Telephone surveys were conducted with 123 parents of youth that play in the nine soccer leagues. The findings of this survey provide insights into the youth soccer organizations that can be used for future planning efforts. Parent respondents were asked a series of questions related to how they chose a particular league, details about the league and their opinions on future activities and objectives of the soccer leagues. UUhen asked why they chose a particular league for their child, most respondents identified location or having a friend or family in the league as reasons. The primary reasons are listed in order below: 0 48%- convenient location 0 26%- relatives or friends in league 0 17%- cost 0 15%-skill level of the league 0 13%-level of competition of the league 0 9%- coach or team recruited their child In terms of the amount of practice that each child participates in weekly, the results were varied. Eighty percent of parents reported that their child practices two to three times a week,14% of parents reported practices once a week and 6% of parents reported no regular weekly practices.