North Marin Sports Complex

In Novato, many of the elementary schools rent fields to the Novato Youth Soccer League.  While seemingly good in theory--schools raise some money and the NYSL gets lots of space for practices and games--it is not working well in practice (pun intended).  Rancho and Pleasant Valley schools, for example, lease the fields for two-to-three hours per day Monday-Thursday for practices and about five hours per day Saturdays and Sundays.  Add on school-day and neighborhood usage and there's very little time for the fields to recover.

By mid-season high-traffic sections of the fields are bare dirt.  Gophers, moles, and zealous soccer players have riddled the field with furrows and holes.  Coaches have to scout pieces of field that are safe for the players.

A community-sponsored or for-profit sports complex may be the solution.  A central location with a half-dozen lighted, well-maintained fields--or even high quality artificial turf would be a huge improvement.