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Crews Racing to Complete Athletic Fields in Kingston

KINGSTON, Pa. — A youth soccer league in Luzerne County will soon have a new home — a complex with three brand new fields. The Kingston Lightning Yo...

KINGSTON, Pa. -- A youth soccer league in Luzerne County will soon have a new home -- a complex with three brand new fields.

The Kingston Lightning Youth Soccer League has never really had a home, sharing the field with other sports. But soon a new complex at the Church Street Park in Kingston will feature three natural grass fields just for soccer.

"Potentially, we could have six separate games at one time, with two separate sports going on in the spring and fall," said DPW director Adam Gober.

Officials say this project has been in the works for a few years and is an exciting thing for families with children involved in sports.

"We've never had just our own field. We've always been sharing our field with baseball or football. This complex is going to allow us to have all children from 3 years old up to 18 at one location," said Douglas Iracki, Kingston Lightning Youth Soccer League.

Work on the complex was supposed to get started in August, but getting the permit took a little longer than expected. Now, crews hope Mother Nature won't be an issue. However, sub-freezing temperatures expected this week might mean they'll have to get creative while digging.

"We're trying to get this playable as soon as we can. We want it to be playable in 2019. We're trying to beat the weather, beat the time. We're trying to accommodate everyone we possibly can," Gober said.

The field where the league currently plays soccer is also where kids play baseball.

"It's very hard playing baseball and soccer at the same time on the same field. The same turf is getting really abused by the kids playing," Gober said.

Officials say this is actually going to make maintenance on all of the fields easier, and hopefully help keep them in better condition.

"It doesn't give it any time to rest. It doesn't give us any time to maintain it. You can't grow grass overnight. I'm really excited about it from a maintenance standpoint from my department, because I'm going to be able to keep these facilities a little bit better maintained," Gober added.

The soccer complex at Church Street Park in Kingston is expected to be completed by spring.

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