Since the birth of the Mars Area Soccer Club in the fall of 1985, our teams were playing at various locations throughout the community. The U-6's and U-8's shared the Mars Boro field, the clubs quasi "home" field. The U-10's and travel teams played at Middlesex Township, on the site of the Adams school playground, and over at the high school. Clearly, a major effort was needed to find a central location that our club could call "home". Initially, the club asked Middlesex Township about the possibilities of allowing it to develop several acres of land adjacent to the township park. However, after some lengthy public meetings and the objection of a few nearby residents, those negotiations eventually stalled. During this time, the club also approached The Mars Home for Youth about allowing it to develop part of their property that at the time was being fanned. Within a few days, they graciously agreed. Immediately, heavy equipment, procured with a lot of begging and pleading, arrived on-site. Many local merchants & individuals pitched in.

 

The phones started ringing. The message was: "Hey folks, guess what, we're going to build 2 soccer fields and we need help!" On the designated day, practically close to a hundred volunteers of all ages showed up. What a pleasant surprise. The 1st volunteer to start up the bulldozer was Bill Blair. Back & forth he went day and night. Back & forth the volunteers went, using mattress springs to drag the rocks, appeared, albeit brown. The volunteer operator of the bulldozer for the 2nd field was Paul Alexandrunas. Back and forth he went on the dozer, day & night. Rock removal proved to be much more of a challenge on this field. Coincidentally, a gas line was being laid nearby. Paul approached the contractor about lending us his rock-round. He consented, no questions asked. Without hesitation, Paul began removing what seemed like a hundred ton of rock. This scooping and dumping took an entire weekend, dawn to dusk. The volunteers then repeated the raking, seeding and fertilizing. The final step was to protect the barren ground, so they fed that hay shredder with a couple hundred bales of hay and sprayed a blanket of fine cover over both fields. Finally, more than a month later, with tempers shorting out, marriages straining and all other aspects of home life having been put on hold, both fields were complete. Then, thankfully, as if right on queue the rains came. When they didn't, the Mars & Valencia Fire Departments did, soaking the fields under the glare of their headlights. What satisfaction they felt as each volunteer passed by the fields throughout the fall & winter months. Slowly they turned plush green. In the early spring of '93, the travel goals were obtained, hauled to the fields and put in place. Considering it was snowing and the temperature was in the 20's, it hardly felt like a soccer season was about to begin. All other equipment was gathered up from the other sites and the concession stand made it to the fields.

 

The 1st games were played on April 3, 1993. A formal field dedication was held on May 22, 1993. The fields were simply named "B" (U-6, U-8) & "A" (U-10) in honor of the two men, Bill Blair & Paul Alexandrunas, - whose determination & commitment to creating these fields for our children was simply beyond belief. We'd be remiss if we didn't again mention the Mars Home for Youth They were an invaluable partner in this endeavor and continue to be our friends and landlord. Over the years, they've allowed us to make improvements such as installing drainage pipes, electrical service, the cyclone fence & of course "C" field.

 

We've tried to convey the effort, time, dedication & sweat that went into building our fields. Because many of the children of the folks involved at that time have completed their playing days with our club, the torch has been passed to us to maintain and keep our soccer complex in the best condition possible. As any travel parent can attest, our fields and surrounding facilities are some of the best in the local area and should be a source of pride to all of us.

 

Please remember what those "volunteers" accomplished in the summer and fall of '92. We owe them all our heartfelt thanks.