OUR VISION
FOUR SEASONS, FOR EVERYONE
Our multi-use recreation campus, including a new indoor ice arena and renovated field house, will meet the high regional demand for youth sports and become a vibrant community resource for people of all ages and abilities to learn and enjoy healthy activities.
This is a time of both need and opportunity in youth sports.
While the need for athletic facilities including a new ice rink is long standing in our region, the ongoing pandemic highlights the importance for youth and people of all ages to engage in their community through athletics and active recreation on a daily basis.
Especially during the winter and Maine’s long shoulder seasons, activities including ice skating, hockey, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, baseball, softball and more all struggle to find facilities especially during periods of inaccessible outdoor fields in Fall, Winter and Spring.
Kids want to stay active playing the sports they love with their friends, but opportunities are too often limited by available facilities.
The need crosses all sports, but limited ice time provides the starkest example of the limitations on our youth:
The combined regional ice time demand for youth hockey, scholastic hockey, figure skating, and recreational skating is more than double that which is available.
Watson Arena offers very limited availability to support community hockey and figure skating.
Figure skating clubs lack ice time to fully implement their programs and indoor public skating is not available in our region.
Youth hockey teams average 1.5 hours of car time for each hour of skating requiring travel to Falmouth, Auburn, Augusta and beyond. Some kids give up hockey altogether and others never try skating at all.
High school students have limited weekly practice time and rise at 4 a.m. or even earlier to practice yielding a sleep routine that is not compatible with rigorous academic schedules and adolescent development.
Maine’s long shoulder seasons of Spring and Fall feature limited daylight with wet or muddy fields. Youth sports and athletes of all ages are in need of covered facilities for field sports to stay active.
Help make our vision a reality
Your support gets us one step closer to acheiving our vision!
