WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — The Waterford Corsairs youth football league is scrambling to find a new practice facility after learning their current home at the Waterford Recreation Center will soon be sold.
Watch Demetrios Sanders' video report below:
The organization, which has served the community since 1965, provides football and cheerleading opportunities for children ages 5 to 13. The league currently uses the field outside the Waterford Recreation Center for practices, but that will change when the facility closes at the end of the year.
"It's been a joy to coach some of these kids from ages 5 to 13. You develop a lot of relationships," said Rickey Anthony, head football coach with the Waterford Corsairs.
The recreation center closure is part of a cost-cutting measure by Waterford Township.
Township Supervisor Anthony Bartolotta said the center is in poor condition, and moving programming elsewhere will help reduce financial burdens while they wait for a new community center to be built.
"We pay a lot of money for utilities, maintenance, janitorial services. So, we're just basically cutting our costs and we can still do everything at the Leggett facility," Bartolotta said.
The township also plans to sell the recreation center property, with buyers already expressing interest.
"I'm talking with a local business in Waterford Township; I want to keep them here. And then a developer; I don't know what they want to do with it. That property is zoned light industrial," Bartolotta said.
For the Corsairs, this means finding a new practice location — a challenge that has proven difficult.
"Waterford has kind of become a concrete jungle," Waterford Corsairs President Dan Bishop said.
The league serves hundreds of families during football season. Bishop said on a typical weekday during their season, roughly 300 to 500 people use the field, including kids, parents and siblings.
Despite searching throughout the community, the Corsairs haven't found a suitable replacement facility. Bartolotta said the team can continue using the current field until the township sells the property, but after that, permission would depend on the new owner.
"You know, we really want to work with the football team, but there's only so much you can do," Bartolotta said.
The uncertainty raises concerns about the future of youth football in Waterford.
"It could be detrimental to football in Waterford," Bishop said.
Coaches emphasize the importance of continuing to provide opportunities for local children.
"It's literally giving the kids a spot to come be themselves, have something to build off of in life," Anthony said.
The Corsairs are asking the community for help and say they're open to all ideas for green spaces where they can practice and play.
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