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Page | 7 APPENDIX C
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<br />and offers two leagues. The seniors heavily utilize the courts on weekdays, but weekend use shows
<br />minimal use as recorded by the number of court reservations.
<br />
<br />• With the constant increase in youth sports, especially soccer and youth football, City fields are
<br />severely impacted with limited space for league and open play. Agreements with the Pleasanton School
<br />District allows for the use of school fields as additional locations for league play and practice.
<br />
<br />• Extreme sports are on the rise in most cities. A 2008 SGMA Report showed that among those aged 6
<br />years and older, the most popular extreme sports in the US, listed in a decreasing order of participation,
<br />included in‐line skating, skateboarding, mountain biking, snowboarding, paintball, cardio kickboxing,
<br />climbing (indoor, boulder), running, ultimate Frisbee, wakeboarding, mountain/rock climbing, BMX
<br />bicycling, roller hockey and boardsailing/windsurfing.
<br />
<br />• Nationwide, new Community Center design and
<br />construction has placed more emphasis on the scale of
<br />development, the use of Crime Prevention Through
<br />Environmental Design (CPTED) principles, and the pursuit of
<br />LEED certification. Large multi‐purpose centers, usually over
<br />65,000 sq. ft., could help increase cost recovery, promote
<br />retention, and encourage cross‐use.
<br />
<br />• Forming partnerships and engaging volunteers have
<br />become efficient ways of doing business. Today, over 95% of
<br />park and recreation agencies have formed some kind of
<br />partnerships to extend their reach, increase programming
<br />capabilities and expand funding ability. According to a 2009
<br />Recreation Management article, the most common partners
<br />include local schools (75.2%), other local government
<br />agencies (69.1%), nonprofit organizations (59.8%), state
<br />government (43.9%) and private corporations, service clubs
<br />or local businesses (38.5%).
<br />
<br />• Many Park and Recreation agencies have begun to
<br />extensively search for solutions to create and sustain
<br />healthy finances. They aggressively pursue alternatives to
<br />expand funding sources beyond general fund tax dollars,
<br />improve cost‐recovery and explore park facilities as self‐sufficient revenue centers.
<br />
<br />• To be more accountable, transparent, responsive and effective, today more and more cities and their
<br />parks and recreation departments are using business models to gain better efficiencies. This would
<br />require a paradigm shift towards a business mindset in planning and managing services, with emphasis
<br />on core business, best practices, smart operation, performance management and customer service.
<br />Today, the park and recreation industry faces the on‐going challenges of meeting or exceeding the
<br />expectations of their diverse and aging population and stiffer competition for tax dollars.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />US Youth Soccer player registration
<br />decreased by over 50,000 and is
<br />projected to drop by an additional
<br />164,590 in 2012, leaving an overall
<br />total of less than three million for
<br />the first time in more than 12 years.
<br />
<br />It would be easy to attribute the
<br />decrease in registration to economic
<br />concerns or even a lower birth rate.
<br />However, when you look at
<br />organizations like US Club Soccer,
<br />they're forecasting growth of more
<br />than 15% in 2012. Similarly, other
<br />sports like US Lacrosse, the
<br />governing body for Lacrosse in the
<br />United States, showed an increase in
<br />youth registration by more than
<br />35,000 from 2010 to 2013 with
<br />further growth expected.
<br />US Soccer Key Statistics and US Lacrosse
<br />Facts & Figures
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