1 Torran Korman
From: City Council
Sent: Tuesday, April 7, 2026 12:16 PM
To: Mary Gourley
Cc: Oriana Hart; Erik Billing; Elissa Overton; Torran Korman; Victoria Henkel; Zulema Higgins; John Jay; Jane Riley
Subject: FW: soccer fields for Sebastopol
Please see public comment as it relates to an agenda item on the upcoming city council meeƟng.
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-----Original Message-----
From: JJ Yost < >
Sent: Tuesday, April 7, 2026 11:59 AM
To: City Council <[email protected]>
Subject: soccer fields for Sebastopol
To whom it may concern,
I am wriƟng in support of any acƟons being considered by the city council that would help create soccer specific fields in Sebastopol. I am a Sebastopol resident and parent to an 11 year old, and I have been involved in the local Wesco soccer league since 2021 as a volunteer coach. I volunteer my Ɵme to coach because I have seen first hand the transformaƟve power youth sports has to posiƟvely affect children both physically and mentally. With the mounƟng pressures on our children inherent in the digital age (constant connecƟvity, social media etc) I believe it is criƟcal to get them involved in non-screen based acƟviƟes. Soccer provides an outlet for learning how to appropriately manage feelings of aggression, and the joy, social interacƟons, confidence building, physical fitness, and learned humility that come from playing a team sport are criƟcal anƟdotes to the disconnected and insular echo chambers that kids oŌen find online.
There are no soccer specific fields in Sebastopol and I would love to see that change. Since all exisƟng fields are shared between school programs and other sports leagues, demand oŌen outpaces supply, and as a coach I oŌen come up against field scheduling conflicts. I am a supporter of all these leagues and programs and want to see them all grow and flourish. As this happens however, we as a community need to conƟnue to create and maintain new spaces for these programs. Adding full-size dedicated soccer fields would be great, but space and funding for their creaƟon can be hard to find. An alternaƟve in Sebastopol could be to emulate other ciƟes by creaƟng 'soccer courts’, which are ideal spaces for trainings and small-sided games. These mini arenas require smaller footprints (they are similar in size to tennis courts), are contained with fencing and neƫng, are surfaced with arƟficial turf or another low maintenance surface, and can be lit with focused LED lighƟng for night use.
Thanks for your consideraƟon.
John Yost