DALTON, Ga. – As the demographics of Dalton started to change, so did the types of sports and facilities the community required.
Starting in the 1990s, Hispanics moved into the area, following jobs in construction and the carpet industry. They brought their love of soccer with them.
“These are the people who live in our town and work in our businesses, so I think it’s important that we, as a city service, provide leisure activities for a big cross-section of our community,” said Ronnie Nix, Dalton Parks and Recreation director.
Currently, city resources are strained with close to 100 teams play soccer in Dalton almost year-round on four fields.
One of the soccer leagues – Nueva Vida – built its own field.
The city is in the process of building three more multi-purpose fields – two in James Brown Park and one at the new community center on Fredrick Street – and is resurfacing the two soccer fields at Smith Industrial Boulevard, bringing the total to six fields.
“We’ve been pushing for the two fields to be resurfaced (at Smith Industrial) for a while now. It’s really important that we continue to have spaces where they youth can play, so we can keep them busy,” said Armando Ramirez, who moved to the Dalton area about 20 years ago and soon after became involved in soccer.
He now leads the San Jose League, which has more than 70 teams including children’s, youth and adults.
NUMBER OF SOCCER TEAMS * San Jose league: 72* Dalton Soccer League: 42 * Nueva Vida league: 24 * Dalton total: 138
In Whitfield County, where the largest number of Hispanics in the area live, the Hispanic population increased from more than 2,000 to almost 18,500 from 1990 to 2000, according to data released by the Pew Hispanic Center.
By 2007, Hispanics were about 30 percent of the county’s population of 93,379, the Pew profile shows.
The two softball fields at James Brown Park will be turned into two artificial surface fields that will be used for soccer and football, said Mr. Nix. The new community center will also include an identical multipurpose field.
The city recently resurfaced two additional fields that are mainly used by children at James Brown and will soon start resurfacing the other two at Smith Industrial Boulevard, which were built almost 10 years ago, Mr. Nix said.
During the week, all the city’s fields are used by the Parks and Recreation Department, but usually on the weekends they are rented out to the different soccer leagues. Fees vary from $100 to $150 per week, Mr. Nix said.
The total project of the fields has an estimated cost of $1.5 million that will be paid with surplus dollars from the recreation department, the city and bonds, he said.
The resurfacing and construction of the new fields at Smith Industrial and James Brown is expected to be completed by the fall, he said.
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