Soccer Club President: 90% of Players Are From Town

Most of the kids who are members of the are township residents, says the organization's president.

As people who live nearest to the  and —the fields that are the focus of the controversial —learn more about the plan, we're learning more of their questions regarding the mayor-backed project.

The FOD project gets its first official public hearing Tuesday night at the at at 7:30 p.m.

Some residents point to the Parsippany Soccer Club, which has non-residents among its members. One worry some have: Will non-Parsippany kids be in area neighborhoods to use the fields? 

"About 90 percent of our members come from Parsippany," PSC President Dave Ferguson said. 

He said membership in the group varies from year to year, but estimates that about 1,800-2,000 children are involved in PSC activities throughout the course of any given year.

Another concern raised by some residents involve the and who will end up with the right to use the schools' football fields.

Under the proposed plan, an estimated $4.5 million in Open Space Trust Fund monies would be used for athletic field improvements through the . That change in controlling interest would open field use to town residents and organizations.

And that worries some who fear that events such as the will come to the schools and disrupt the peace of the neighborhoods closest to the fields.

According to Ferguson, some tournament events already take place on school grounds, apparently with little if any reaction from residents.

"During the Pride Tournament, with Board of Education permission, we historically have had some use of the [other] fields at the High and the Hills," he said, adding that PSC has not used the main fields targeted in Fields of Dreams. "We never use those fields, not even during the Pride."

Parsippany Schools Superintendent LeRoy Seitz said the district has authorized the PSC use of school fields in the past and added that the group's usage of school grounds could increase.

"I would anticipate that, if the fields are turfed, the soccer club would use the turfed fields for the Pride Tournament which is exactly one of the benefits of a turfed field," Seitz said.

Ferguson said people should open their minds to new ideas.

"I work in health care and because of recently legislation [related to] President Obama's health care reform, we are looking for different ways to restructure what we have known to become the status quo of the health care industry," he said. "It's challenged us to be creative, to be innovative, to try to touch the most amount of people in the most efficient way possible. 

"I was thinking the other night that there is a real parallel to this situation. With Fields of Dreams, we're trying to benefit a lot of people—specifically, as many kids as possible," Ferguson continued. "Just because we've done something a certain way in the past doesn't necessarily mean that it's wrong.

"It just challenges us to approach things in a new way."