New sports complex in Salem nears completion

The $2.2 million complex was funded by the Salem Community Foundation.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

SALEM — Build it, and they will kick.

Area youths and adults are expected to play soccer and other games in the new Center Circle — Salem Indoor Sports Complex in Salem.

The “Center Circle” comes from the center of the field where most games begin, according to Mark Equizi, the executive director of the Salem Community Center.

“Salem Indoor Sports Complex” describes the location and the fact that it can and will be used for more than one sport.

Other uses are likely to include athletic camps, flag football, kickball, baseball practice, Frisbee leagues and possibly craft or similar shows.

The $2.2 million facility is all but completed. The Salem Community Foundation paid for the facility as a gift to the community for its Bicentennial and in recognition of the foundation’s 40th anniversary, both in 2006.

An open house will be from 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 20. Indoor soccer starts Nov. 10.

People can check out the lush green fake grass and turf on the field. It smells like rubber because beneath the grass are tiny bits of rubber — some 52,500 pounds of it.

Equizi said it’s the same material professional football named players bounce on every week.

The center, which is also called the field house, is only part of the expansion.

The addition includes a new gymnasium, restrooms, a snack and vending area, and storage. Equizi said the gym will help provide more space for programs. The center has been so crowded that some exercise classes were taking place in meeting rooms.

The Community Center and Center Circle are now one building, but have separate entrances.

The center that opened in 2002 is at 1098 North Ellsworth Avenue.

The entrance to the Center Circle will be off Sunset Boulevard. Each has a separate entrance and parking lot. That’s designed to separate people using the center from those participating or watching soccer games. The field house has seating for 120 people, with games expected to start every hour.

Rusty Savage will be the manager of the field house. He’ll be in charge of games and programs that will run starting at 3 p.m. weekdays and all day Saturdays and Sundays.

Equizi and Savage said the new field was designed to help players play better.

When soccer is played indoors, players may kick the ball off a wall.

The new field house, however, is surrounded by netting. There are three feet between the out of bounds line and the net.

Steven Bailey, the president of the Salem Youth Soccer League, was a consultant to the center on the construction. That league has eight outdoor soccer fields at Kent State University’s Salem Branch.

Bailey that the lack of walls at the center makes for better players. Instead of bouncing balls off walls, athletes, “have to keep control of the ball,” he said.

Or as Equizi said, players will have to play with “finesse.”

At the new field, play will resume where the ball went out of bounds.

The 500 youths in the Salem league are likely to sign up for games at Center Circle, he added.

Communities from other areas in Columbiana and Mahoning counties have said they plan to field teams, Bailey said. Teams will run from under age 8 through adults.

The center, Bailey added, helps the community by providing a place for youths to go.

wilkinson@vindy.com