Lee County inspecting youth sports fields after a light falls in an Estero park

Reporter: Jolena Esperto Writer: Matthew Seaver
Published: Updated:

Youth sports have hit another hurdle after Hurricane Ian. All the Lee County fields where youth sports are played are closed. That’s because a light fixture at an Estero park fell, making it unsafe for kids to play sports after dark. As s result all of the fields are being inspected.

There is good news to report. Thanks to fast action by Lee County, youth sports should be back in business by Saturday. It’s been a rough road since the hurricane, but now there’s relief in sight.

Like our beaches and homes, Lee County’s athletic field got hit hard by the hurricane. On Monday, the county ordered all fields closed after a light fell down on a field in Estero.

Lee County youth sports field closed sign. (Credit: WINK News)

“I mean, we’re gonna fight. We’re going to exhaust every possibility that we have,” said  Howard Gold, president of south Fort Myers Youth Baseball.

Gold has spent a lot of time since the storm trying to get Lee County to repair the fields so kids wouldn’t lose their season to a hurricane that hit four months ago.

“Kids do better when there’s normalcy structure, whatever you want to call it in their lives. And if you have regularly scheduled games and practices, it becomes part of their routine,” Gold said.

“It just is another big boulder in the road,” said Jesse Cormier, president of Lee County Strikers Club Soccer.

Like Gold, Cormier has had to make adjustments to the schedule, so his players can get on the pitch at least a little bit. And like Gold, he’s pleased the calls to the county got action.

“And sure enough, it wasn’t just words, there were trucks rolling and taking care of they did the football field yesterday. I believe they’ll be able to do the three baseball fields out here today,” said Gold.

“I just hope that we can resolve this so that these kids can have, you know, really what they’ve been looking for out there on the field and under the lights, you know, so that’s, that’s my hope,” Cormier said.

The county is busy inspecting all of its fields. The goal is to be done with that process by Friday, meaning they will be ready to welcome back the young athletes Saturday morning.

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