Blue-ribbon effort leads to indoor soccer training facility

M-o-o-o-oving.

Not ba-a-a-a-d.

Summer four-legged residents of Sandpoint’s indoor soccer training facility might have these comments if they were asked about what has happened to their exhibition barn at the Bonner County Fair.

The Sandpoint Soccer Association has transformed the fair’s exhibition hall into a premier, all-weather training facility — complete with soccer flags on the wall.

The 135-foot long by 72-foot wide new-age artificial turf is great to play on and beats kicking a ball in a gym or trying to find a dry field, said Sandpoint Striker Katie Flood.

Flood and her U18 girls soccer team broke in the field with a scrimmage last Friday night. The U18 boys followed them during an open house that featured brats and drinks.

“This is just great,” said Frazier King, a Striker dad. “The facility will really help raise Sandpoint’s game.”

It could be argued that Sandpoint’s game is pretty solid and has been for quite a few years. Sandpoint High School has more soccer state championships than any other school in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions.

Adam Tajan, coach of the boys SHS team and formerly the girls coach has championships with both. He is also the director for Sandpoint soccer.

“We are at a disadvantage when we play teams that can practice in game conditions year round,” he said. “This training facility means we will be able to stay in better soccer shape and keep our fitness up.”

Adult leagues will also be playing on the turf.

Trying to find the perfect turf that can work in an arena for six months our of the year and then can be rolled up and stored took a ton of research, Tajan said.

This is not your father’s Astro-Turf.

The faux grass is made from a plastic base and is 3/4 of an inch long. It has a five millimeter foam pad underneath.

Some of the turf systema Tajan and a group of volunteers looked at required infill, which wouldn’t be practical when the facility reverted back to a barn every April.

They ended up with a removable/portable surface that uses a Velcro seaming system to keep it together. Each of the nine rolls is 15 feet wide and roll out to 72 feet.

It’s the exact same turf used for professional indoor soccer as well as arena football.

“It’s the best money can buy,” Tajan said.

Speaking of funds, SSA went to several people to finance this venture and is eager to pay the loan back.

You will see numerous fundraisers to not only pay off the loan but to fund insulation and heating by next November.

The turf is designed to last eight years with year-round use and Tajan hopes to get double that.

Sandpoint Soccer Association wanted to thank the legions of volunteers who have already stepped up to make this happen and are looking for more help all the time.

“Striker Arena is really a field of dreams,” Tajan said. “We couldn’t have gotten here without the SSA board of directors, volunteers, parents and Sandpoint soccer alum. We also couldn’t have gotten here without the Fair Board and staff. There is more work to do but this is great to see how this has turned out already.”

Some might even call it a blue-ribbon effort.