New York complex a spring sports oasis

March 29, 2008
By Tom Haley Rutland Herald

FORT ANN, N.Y. — The spring sports teams at Castleton State College and Green Mountain College are battling the normal hardship imposed on them by Mother Nature. Their fields are still snow-covered.

Yet, this past week the Green Mountain and Castleton women's lacrosse teams were battling one another on a rich green surface, and the day before that the Castleton men's lacrosse squad was tangling with the New England College Pilgrims on the same field.

Castleton and Green Mountain have found a spring sports oasis in the middle of this winter wonderland just 30 minutes from their campus.

The Golden Goal Tournament Park is a sprawling complex of six soccer/lacrosse fields with two more planned. Some of the fields are synthetic turf, making them playable this time of year.

"It's a great facility," Castleton State Athletic Director Deanna Tyson said. "We want to get our games in and it's a lot more reasonable playing them there than going to play the other team in Massachusetts or Connecticut. We do pay a fee, but it's cheaper than going to play a school in Massachusetts or Connecticut.

"I do envision using it more."

"It's a beautiful place," Green Mountain College Athletic Director Ray Campanile said. "We're always trying to maximize our facilities and it's an awesome opportunity, especially for our spring sports teams because they have more of a crunch with their schedule. With that abbreviated season, you have to make use of every opportunity."

The facility was built to host youth lacrosse and soccer tournaments throughout the summer in a location that is a summer tourist Mecca with Lake George, the Great Escape amusement park, Saratoga Raceway and many other amenities.

The facility is in great demand and lacrosse and soccer teams are lined up to participate in its week-long tournament experience.

High school and college teams restricted by the March weather were not part of the plan, but it is working out well, said Sid Schechter, the facility's chief marketing officer.

The concept is modeled after Cooperstown Dreams Park, the network of youth baseball diamonds in Cooperstown, N.Y., that attracts youth baseball teams from all over the country and Canada.

David Dinallo, a Cooperstown resident, combined efforts with two partners and built the Dreams Park.

Schechter said there were a couple of things Dinallo did not anticipate.

"He didn't expect it to be so popular and other than the Baseball Hall of Fame, there wasn't a lot to do in Cooperstown," Schechter said.

Dinallo began to see a need for providing the same experience for families with children involved in soccer and lacrosse, sports that were growing in popularity.

It was in 2003 that he began to explore the plan for soccer that would be on a grander scale than the baseball venture.

A two-year search turned up the farmland just off Route 149 in Fort Ann as the place.

"We have over 200 acres with an option for more," Schechter. "We have developed 70 acres to date."

The park not only includes lighted fields, but an athletic village where the athletes are housed. This allows for much more soccer or lacrosse to be packed into the stay as the players do not have time wasted traveling back and forth.

The players also have a strong bonding experience as they not only live with their teammates for the week, but there are team-building exercises built into the experience, including a ropes course.

Castleton State women's lacrosse coach Tammy Landon sees the facility as a boon to recruiting.

"There are games going on here all summer so you can see a lot of players in one place," she said upon getting out of her car to prepare for her game with Green Mountain last week. "It's going to be great for recruiting."

A college showcase is one of the upcoming events scheduled at the park.

"It's going to be great as a coach," said Campanile, also Green Mountain College's men's soccer coach. "It means now that the kid is coming closer to me instead of me going to Florida to see him."

The fact that Golden Goal is smack in the middle of a summer tourist destination means that many parents make the trip and stay in the area while their child is at the tournament.

"At least 50 percent of the families come even though they don't have to," Schechter said.

"I can only imagine the soccer tournaments they are going to have over there and what it is going to do for the local economy," said Campanile.

One of the marquee events at the park this year will be the U.S. National Lacrosse Festival in June. That event had previously been held at Disney World in Florida, but it was decided to move it to a location with more moderate temperatures.

Schechter estimates that event will draw about 50 teams, male and female.

The Adirondack Lacrosse Festival will be another large event, taking place in late May.

The fields will enable events to be held even in bad weather.

"We have put a lot of effort into the infrastructure," Schechter said. "The fields will drain even in a downpour. The synthetic fields are a very big investment."

Four of the fields are synthetic and those are lighted.

Schechter said the concept of Golden Goal Tournament Park is tailored to soccer and lacrosse players, not necessarily of the elite or Olympic development level, who are very serious and committed to their sport.

"We are serving the passion," he said.