Soccer fields at Whiteley Park doubled to serve growing sport

Just in time for this fall’s Optimist Soccer League season, the Poplar Bluff Parks and Recreation Department has opened four new practice fields at Whiteley Park.

“It’s exciting,” said Parks and Recreation Department Director Lanny Corcimiglia. “We’ve had a lot of people using them already.”

The fields, he said, are on the west side of the road leading past the two baseball fields and raise the number of soccer fields at the park to eight.

Soccer goals, purchased by the Optimist Soccer League in a partnership with the Poplar Bluff Parks and Recreation Department, are seen along the edges of four new practice fields opened recently at Whiteley Park. DAR/Paul Davis

“We’ve had the property for a couple of years and it’s just been sitting there, so why not,” he said. Staff thought something should be done with it, and “I said ‘Let’s mow it,’ and Greg Riggs ordered some goals and we put some stripes down. Steve Lawson and our maintenance staff did a wonderful job on it.”

The entire project, Corcimiglia said, was done in short order.

“It took probably just a couple of weeks, and it was relatively simple,” he said.

The Optimist Soccer League was instrumental in making things happen, funding the purchase of the new goals, Corcimiglia said.

“The Optimist Soccer League always works with us, and they are great to work with,” he said.

“The OSL and the Park Department have a very good relationship,” said OSL Commissioner Staci Barker, and it was a no-brainer to purchase the goals.

The new fields, Corcimiglia said, fill a big need for practice space for a growing sport and the growing OSL league.

“Instead of just going out to the Black River Industrial Park and finding your own little slice of the pie, or going to McLane Park, you can now actually call us here and schedule your practice for one of those fields,” he said. “People really like it because they now can have a specific time and place to practice.”

The “new fields we have now give us more opportunities for our kids,” Barker added, noting the league now has nearly 750 players. “It’s been great.”

With the growth of the sport, Corcimiglia said, he hopes in the future to expand Whiteley Park with the acquisition of adjacent land to create a larger soccer complex.

“We hope to host tournaments in the future with expanded fields and parking,” he said.

Anyone wishing to reserve one of the new fields, he said, can call the Park Department office at 573-686-8645 during normal business hours to do so.