The idea of building a new sports complex in Columbia is a cause that is near and dear to me as the sports editor at your local newspaper.
No offense to Dean Griner or Duckworth, but those facilities don’t even come close to the ones I’ve visited while chasing our young sluggers around the state during the summer. Congratulations once again to all those boys and girls for a great summer. Seriously, to have six state champion teams from a small town like Columbia is nothing to sneeze at. Remarkably, it’s something a lot of us have become accustomed to because of the dominance Columbia’s teams seem to have year after year.
But we need a better place to hone the homegrown talent here in Marion County, which is why I voted for the 3 percent sales tax on restaurants and hotels so that one could be built. I was initially on board with the plans to build the sports complex on RA Johnson Drive after seeing the initial plans, which were beautiful for the record, but the more I think about it and after reading what Alderman-at-large Edward Hough had to say to the Board of Supervisors I’m not so sure it’s the right place for it.
The common threads out of all of the places I’ve been to is they’ve been in a location that was out of the way of the traffic of the city, had room to expand and were still close enough to restaurants where families could go eat between games. That isn’t what RA Johnson Drive has to offer. Don’t get me wrong, a sports complex there could be beautiful, but it’s impractical.
At that location there will inevitably be an issue with parking, and there will be no room to expand. As Hough said, “To cram a quarter into a dime slot is wrong.”
And also, all the fields will have to face the opposite direction of Walmart. If you’ve ever been to a professional or collegiate ball park, they have what is called a batter’s eye in center field. It’s a dark surface, usually dark green but occasionally black, which allows the batter the ability to see the ball coming out of the pitcher’s hand cleanly.
If a field is built facing Walmart, and there aren’t any big trees planted behind it, the ball is going to get lost in the whiteness of the back of Walmart. That’s not just a problem for the hitter to be successful, but it would also be a safety hazard.
Hough’s idea to build the sports complex at the Marion County Businessplex is a smart one. There’s room to expand in the large property that was formerly the Columbia Training School. There’s room for parking. It’s quiet. It’s out of the way. There are no buildings that will give batters problems with seeing the ball out of the pitcher’s hand.
For those of you who aren’t necessarily on board with a sports complex, you probably don’t fully understand what it could mean to a small town like Columbia. These tournaments during the summer can be massive with more than 40 teams descending upon a town for the weekend. And you could have multiple tournaments through the summer.
That brings more business to Columbia and Marion County when more people are visiting. It could mean more restaurants. It may even require another hotel someday. It’s well worth the investment.
If you want an input on these matters, go to any of the city or county board meetings. They’re open to the public, but very few people ever actually show up. It’s your tax dollars being spent. Have a say.
Joshua Campbell is sports editor of The Columbian-Progress. Reach him via email at joshuacampbell@columbianprogress.com or call (601) 736-2611.
