Parents confused after young soccer players are forced off school fields


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BOUNTIFUL — About 100 youth soccer players were forced off the field at West Bountiful Elementary School Saturday morning when they showed up for their first games of the season. The odd thing is, nobody is really sure why.

It was about 10:30 a.m., and a game for 5- and 6-year-olds was about to start when a league official, accompanied by a police officer, told parents the games had been canceled.

West Bountiful police officials said the officer was there because a Davis School District employee had called saying the parents and kids were not supposed to be on the field.

The kids were signed up for the youth soccer league last month through the South Davis Recreation Center, which contracts with the Davis School District to use the field at the elementary school. Parents said they paid $55 for each child to play for 9 weeks.

While the league official told parents they'd be getting their money back, they insist it's not about the money.

"For me, it's about his happiness," said Mandi Wood, referring to her son. "It's about watching him play, and the joy as a parent to watch your child learn and grow in a sport."

"At this point it's too late to do any other league, and we just want our kids to have the opportunity to finish out the season," Alison Sorenson said.

Some parents said they got a text message from the program coordinator for the rec center Saturday, saying she had received three confirmations from the Davis School District about reserving the fields, but then police got a complaint from the school. The text also said games are canceled until further notice.

The program coordinator for the rec center told confirmed the details of her text message Saturday night. She said she thought she had reserved the fields, but apparently there was a miscommunication. She's hoping to get the problem resolved quickly.

West Bountiful police referred us to the Davis County School District, but our calls have not been returned.

Meanwhile, parents are already looking for another location to host the rest of the children's soccer games.

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Sandra Yi

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