Windsor Park Field Development Fund

In 1996, the club approved a Field Development Fund. Since that date, every player has contributed $15 of their summer registration fee to this fund. This Fund has collected $272,000 since its inception.

Four years ago, the City of Ottawa commissioned a study on sports fields. The study found that soccer was short over 100 fields in Ottawa and most of the shortages were in the former City of Ottawa area, where our club operates. They also identified 40 baseball diamonds that were not being used. The core area of Ottawa is the worst for serviced soccer facilities.

In 2005, we were able to rent the baseball diamond at Windsor Park and subsequently opened the DSP program to local residents. Windsor Park holds the record for being the first park to always fill. Last fall, DSP entered into a partnership with the City of Ottawa to remove the unused baseball diamond at Windsor Park . The cost of this was $28,000, half of which our club contributed. This led to a 50% increase in the Park's total area, and allowed our registered players to increase to 107 players. Still, not all neighbourhood children could be accommodated.

The club insisted that this expansion refrain from using permanent nets in the park, so that the community can use the land for multiple purposes. The club has taken it upon themselves to care for the grass, including watering and lining of the fields.

On July 5, we had an official ribbon cutting at Windsor Park with our City Councillor, Clive Doucette. Clive has been an advocate for greener spaces in Ottawa and has acted on his beliefs by helping us not only on this project, but many others. Clive spoke of the need for core areas to have more open areas, especially with the movement towards their higher densification.

All the Windsor teams joined Clive in this little celebration.

Clive Doucette and our girls teams players

If there is any parent that would like to help the club in field maintenance and improvements, please let us know.