Members of Princeton Girls Lacrosse board
We, as board members of Princeton Girls Lacrosse, are writing in support of the proposal to increase access to playable fields in Princeton through the installation of a synthetic surface field, funded by a grant from Mercer County. We would also like to explain the benefits such a field would bring to the children in our program.
Princeton Girls Lacrosse is a large and growing organization with almost 165 girls ranging in age from kindergarten through grade eight. We take great effort to be an inclusive program, one that supports the participation of girls who play multiple sports as well as girls who aren’t necessarily star athletes but play because we’ve created a fun and supportive environment. One of our most important missions is to give our girls the opportunity to incorporate an active lifestyle into their regular routine.
As a program, we feel the pinch of Princeton’s lack of playing fields. One rainy day can shut down practices for a couple of days. Due to the difficulty of getting sufficient fields, we are never in a position to host games or paydays and must travel to other towns for nearly all our events. If the weather is slightly inclement, we lose valuable practice and play time either scrambling for space or trying to figure out how to squeeze 100 girls onto playable space meant for a fraction of that number.
For our girls, the increased usage provided by a turf field would enable more playing and practice time, more time to have fun with teammates and coaches and might even allow them to play ‘host’ once ina while to teams of other local-area girls. Don’t be fooled by the minimal increases in accessibility cited by opponents, the key is that in crunch times (during busy mid-season or after a couple of rainy days) having a playable field would dramatically improve all programs’ ability to ‘squeeze in’ some practice and playing time.
While several older and ‘inconclusive’ studies have been referenced to cast doubt about health and environmental safety, our confidence lies in the study from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the agency charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks from consumer products. It stated in May 2008 that it deems turf fields to be safe for children. Our confidence in the fields is further increased by the fact that numerous Princeton institutions have already done their research and deemed turf fields to be safe and beneficial for their children and young athletes: Princeton Day School, Stuart, The Hun School, Princeton University.
We believe that children can derive life-long benefits from active participation in team sports. We need more access to playable fields in order to continue to keep the girls in our program motivated, engaged and enthusiastic. Please help us continue our program’s goal of encouraging our girls to make an active lifestyle part of their lives.
Aaron Burt
Audrey Chen
Christie Cooper
Lynne Harwood
Leah McDonald
John Morris
Suzy Morris
Ann Reilly
Lisa Ullman
James Weeks
