City and soccer’s growth behind new $12.5-million soccer complex in Cambridge

With dozens of soccer fields within Cambridge, city officials point to the exponential growth in population and popularity of the sport for the new Fountain Street soccer complex. 

The $12.5 million soccer facility is currently under construction with a projected opening date in 2023. 

The city has committed over $11 million to the new complex with Conestoga college kicking in an additional $1.5 million for a reserved field. 

Director of sports for the City of Cambridge Don Crowder said this complex is an amazing opportunity to grow the sport and to meet the rising needs for more fields. 

“It's an opportunity to expand our recreation offerings, particularly for our field programs,” said Crowder. “There's definitely been an increase in demand for soccer in our community, and this was a great opportunity to provide fields that are higher quality and meet the demand that our community is seeing.”

According to Crowder there are over 4,000 children who play soccer in the city, starting at ages as young as three years old. This number is expected to climb as more people move to the city, he added.

With the addition of the complex and its seven new fields, it will add to the city’s inventory of fields.

With nearly 20 spaces to play the sport, whether that be schools, parks and dedicated fields, the new complex will not create any redundancy in soccer fields, said Crowder. 

“What this does afford us is the ability to rest some of those other fields that have a lot of wear. The end result of that is that all of our fields will be in a better condition because we'll be able to receive that necessary resting period,” said Crowder. 

This will also provide more spaces for organizations like Cambridge Youth Soccer(CYS) and create a home base for all of their programs. 

“We have been in partnership with the city on this development for 10 years.” said Liz Stolper, executive director for Cambridge Youth Soccer. “We run programs for children under two all the way to 21 years old, so to have a place where they can all train and play will be transformative.”

Stolper thinks that this new facility will allow young children to live their dreams of playing the game and open their pathways exponentially. 

From scholarships to semi-professional leagues, CYS is looking at this new facility as the next step forward for the youth in the city and create new opportunities that players would previously have had to leave the city for.

“It’s creating a home for our players,” said Stolper. “It's investing in their future and giving them this feeling of being a part of something bigger than what they are.”

Stolper also cites the improved play by Canadians nationally and internationally as a motivating factor for kids to join the sport. 

“What we're trying to do is inspire the love of the game. When these kids are watching our Canadian men and women on TV winning, establishing milestones and they go out onto a professional field, they start to dream. They feel like they're on the same platform, the same field as (Christine) Sinclair,” said Stolper. “They wear their little jerseys with their names on the back and they go out there and they think that they are those players. How do you put a price tag on that?”