The following are e-mails received and sent in the order presented. I have published all because of how the picture changed as information came forward.
Aurora Youth Soccer Club is not like any other minor sports association I have ever seen.
Looks like they might have established another nice friendship in the Mayor's office.
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I am a resident of Aurora and a volunteer and parent of two children that play soccer at the Aurora Youth Soccer Club. My daughter Christina plays on a competitive team and my son plays on a house league team. We have lived in Aurora for 10 years and have been associated with the AYSC for over 7 years. We are proud that our kids can play soccer in Aurora. We have noticed over the years that several fields are in disrepair and that there is a need for more fields . Further, I understand that a lot of the fields are in such disrepair that we could no longer host the Aurora competitive tournament in July. The girls were always very proud to be the host this tourney in Aurora. I have been told that the AYSC has requested for more fields to deal with these issues and that the AYSC has not been allowed to demonstrate this need to the Aurora council. Given that the club has 4,000 kids playing soccer I would have thought the AYSC would be able to be heard by council.
There are lots of benefits to soccer …one of which it will keep my kids in shape and off the streets in their young teenage years. It is a great outing in the summer and I would not want any kids in a Aurora to not be able to experience this great sport.
Unfortunately, I cannot make the council meeting on Tuesday due to soccer games. But, I hope that you will hear the AYSC’s proposals at the next council meeting. Thank you all for making Aurora a great place to live.
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Thank you for your e-mail and your expression of appreciation for the facilities Aurora provides for young people to play soccer.
I myself am proud of the service provided to young players. I know parks staff take great pride in providing the best fields in the Region.
A few years ago, we added our first artificial turf to our inventory at Sheppard's Bush.
This year we entered into an agreement with St Maximillian Kolby High School and another artificial turf facility has been built on their property at our expense.
I believe you have been misinformed about the condition of our soccer fields.
We have an agreement with an operator of a bubble which provides space to your organisation
Over the term of the agreement Aurora taxpayers will have paid taxes to York Region and the Board of Education in excess of a million dollars for a year round facility that benefits the Aurora Youth Soccer Association.The bubble is erected on town owned land.
I am not aware the Association has been denied an opportunity to address Council on the issue of providing further additional fields this year.
The association continues to grow despite your assertion of a shortage of fields.
They offer professional services including coaching and tournaments in distant lands. They publish a magazine. They have private office facilities and a corporate staff complement.
You note in your e-mail, you anticipate Aurora Youth Soccer Association will be heard by Council on Tuesday.
I look forward to the delegation.I expect yours may be the first of a flood of e-mails suggesting the town may be failing youth soccer in Aurora.
I assure you it is not the case
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E-mail response from the Mayor.
I know that when I was an AYSC coach, the fields owned by the public board (for example Aurora High & Williams) were usually the ones that needed the most TLC.
Mr Downey and I have met with the AYSC executive on a number of occasions to discuss the availability of fields and he has been working diligently on filling that need. Indeed, the approval for multi-use field is coming before Council on next Tuesday and you are most welcome to come to the meeting and express your views.
Indeed, any member of the public is welcome to come to any Council meeting and express their views on any subject. To suggest that the AYSC has not been allowed to express their views to Council is incorrect. In fact, I have encouraged a number of groups, including the AYSC, to come to Council so that we are aware of your plans. I continue to encourage this
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Anonymous comment to the post on both sides should be heard.
Anonymous comment to the post on both sides should be heard.
I am from a soccer family and coached for many years with AYSC. We have watched the club grow and change over the years. We have seen expensive programs and fancy soccer schools and high profile coaches command most of the clubs budget for years. The previous board of directors and management staff promoted a Doors Open policy for the club to include anyone who wished to sign up to the club, not just Aurora residents. Almost a if you come, we will build it mentality, and developed a fine friendship with our past mayor. Field space became difficult to acheive with the growth of the competetive division of the club. We have 10 age divisons, both boys and girls that support 2 or even 3 representative teams that all need lit full size fields to play on. If you had to poll all the competetive teams, you would find over 30% of the players are non residents.
We field as many teams as towns and cities 5 times our size. So that is a club problem, and not a town issue at all. The current AYSC does NOT support the glossy magazine and the shinanigans that went along with it. It would be in councillors best interest to realize that the current folks running the AYSC are completely different from the past management. Thank God. If the club actually reigned in on its number of rep teams, we may see the need for fields dropping in the near future. Time for the club to look really hard in the mirror before running to the town for more fields.
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