Soccer families rejoice as Lebanon approves new complex

“It’s exciting,” Harris said. “We’re ready to see it. The fields where we have been have been great, but we need more fields, and we just need better quality fields. This is going to do that.”

The complex will have conventional grass fields and one artificial turf field.

“You can have different types of fields where we are going that we couldn’t have at the airport fields,” Harris said. “You’re on an incline on some of those fields. They can be a little rocky, just not as easy to play on and learn the game of soccer like they should.”

The Lebanon family is looking forward to other amenities that will also be offered at the park.

“A lot of the time, Matilda will have a game at 8 (a.m.), and Miles will have a game at noon,” Harris said. “To be able to stay, maybe walk a trail and have things to do instead of having to come home and wait for the next game to come back, will be great. When you got three kids, you got soccer balls and cleats, flip flops and everything else, and bags. It’s a lot to go back and forth.”

Wilson United fields are in Lebanon, but the club serves all of Wilson County.

“For people coming from Mt. Juliet, which can be 30 minutes away, it’s a bigger deal to have to go back and forth when you have games at different times,” Harris said.

After the decision, the league director, James Herren, remarked that the “sky’s the limit” for Wilson United.

“This allows us to grow beyond what we can currently do,” Herren said. “The three fields limit us. There are no lights. Now, this gives us two extra fields and lights.”

Herren, who sat on the committee that conducted the search to bring the facility to Lebanon, indicated optimism about what having a tournament-sized park means for the city. Even if other Middle Tennessee have similar complexes, Herren sees opportunity for collaboration.

“We have talked a lot with Murfreesboro and the Tennessee State Soccer Association about how we can work together,” Herren said. “A lot of times, (Murfreesboro) has to turn teams away. They had a tournament recently where there were 5,000 kids from all over the Southeast region that were all staying in Murfreesboro. They had to farm some out to Smyrna. Well, our fields will be closer. It just makes a natural fit for us.”

Bid-winner RELYANT Global’s vice president of the Americas, Howard Haynes, said that his company was thrilled to be on the project, adding that he was surprised that it was the only bid submitted.

“Part of our criteria here was that we would do site development,” Haynes said. “We would do all the underground utilities. We will do all the services provided like leveling the site, grading, putting the road in, parking, sidewalks and concession stands. Then, you hire a field contractor. That is all they do. It requires very exacting standards of laser leveling and specialized base material so that the grass grows and that artificial turf is a very specialized surface as well.”

Haynes is based out of Maryville. His proximity allowed him to visit a facility in Pigeon Forge that was designed by the same company that Lebanon got to design its complex.

“We had the opportunity to go and see it and see the sophistication,” Haynes said. “Once we saw that, we wanted to be a part of it.”

The ordinance will require one additional reading. The next Lebanon City Council meeting will be held on July 19 in the town meeting room of the city’s administration building, located at 200 North Castle Heights Ave., at 6 p.m.