DYSA Community Investments
Durango Youth Soccer Association was established in 1993. From very early, DYSA partnered with both the 9-R School District and the City of Durango Parks and Recreation Department to create athletic fields.
Riverview Sports Complex
In 1995, DYSA committed $5,000 to toward the development of the Riverview Sports Complex. That facility is currently managed and maintained by the Department of Parks and Recreation under an agreement with the 9-R School District. The field at Park Elementary is similarly managed and maintained by the Department of Parks and Recreation. When the City succumbed to the demands of the organic parks group, DYSA stood by the Department of Parks and Recreation in opposition to applying organic methods to athletic fields. Nevertheless, Riverview was included in the organic experiment. After the near destruction of the fields resulted, the organic experiment was abandoned, and the Parks and Recreation Department was able to restore the facility. At the time, DYSA offered to contribute to the restoration effort, but was not called upon to help pay the cost of restoration. Today, under the management and maintenance of the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Riverview facility is probably the best natural turf athletic facility in Durango.
Escalante Sports Complex
DYSA was instrumental in creating the athletic fields at Escalante. Gene Bond’s construction company was paid $76,000 by DYSA for work done in connection with creating the field. Some 9,000 cubic yards of fill were brought in to make the surface of the fields. In addition, Bond built a 12-foot-high retaining wall on the west side of the school and donated $126,000 in additional work. Jack Wasserbach, who was affiliated with DYSA, put in the irrigation system and maintained it for 3 years. 9-R School District paid for the pipe and the fittings. The engineering for the project was done by Mike Olson who was a DYSA Board member. All told, DYSA, Wasserbach, Olson and donors contributed an estimated $275,000 to create the facility. Subsequently, DYSA paid Wasserbach $4,000/year to maintain the fields until his retirement. Thereafter, DYSA paid 9-R $7,000/ year to maintain the fields. Unfortunately, 9-R lacked the staff and the expertise to maintain the facility and today the fields have deteriorated. Just before the pandemic, DYSA offered to contribute up to $20,000 to restore the fields after a joint effort to spread a new layer of topsoil in 2018 failed to fix the problems. Today, the fields are not playable and were one reason DYSA had to reduce the size of the annual Durango Shootout Soccer Tournament.
Smith Sports Complex
After many years of planning and raising funds, the Smith Sports Complex project was started in 2010. The City of Durango applied for a GOCO grant but was turned down for lack of community support in the form of cash contributions toward the project. In response, DYSA contributed $40,000 based upon the design that had 4 multipurpose athletic fields, 240 parking spaces, restrooms, a snack bar, and both internal and external storage spaces for athletic equipment. With that support, the City reapplied for and received a $700,000 GOCO grant to create the Smith multipurpose athletic field complex. Although the initial design changed when construction commenced, those features (4 fields, 60 parking spots per field, restrooms, a snack bar and storage spaces) remained unchanged. The Smith Complex was dedicated in 2012. However, construction defects affecting the fields took 5 years and multiple tries to fix. The facility finally entered use in 2017.
DYSA in the Future
DYSA continues to look for opportunities to partner with the City of Durango, 9-R School District, and other athletic organizations to provide athletic opportunities for Durango youth. As Three Springs and other future projects come to fruition, DYSA stands ready to lend its support, both financially and otherwise.
June 7, 2022