New sports on the agenda

Pressure is growing for city parks to provide a wider array of recreational opportunities for an increasingly diverse community, including ESPN’s growing number of employees.
Though people are still pushing for more ball fields in town, there’s an ever-increasing volley of requests to provide for new and different sports – from a skatepark to disc golf.
Park commissioners have already backed a $400,000 skatepark for Rockwell Park – a plan that’s been in the works for years – but they’re pondering what to do about current requests for a bocce court and a “cricket pitch.”
ESPN’s international focus is providing some of the impetus for change.
“There are many people coming from different parts of the globe with different sports interests,” said ESPN Vice President Mike Soltys.
For many of those ESPN workers, the hometown sports are cricket and football – or soccer, as it’s called here.
Their interests dovetail with ESPN placing a priority on its international reach.
Soltys said ESPN recently purchased cricinfo.com, a website based in India that is devoted to all things cricket, from the latest news and scores from real games to fantasy cricket.
Soltys said there are currently 15 ESPN employees who play cricket on a baseball field at Casey Field.
“We do have people playing in some kind of cricket league locally,” said Soltys.
They’ve spoken with the Bristol parks department, Soltys said, in hopes of getting a “cricket pitch,” or field specifically designed for playing cricket, in the city.
“They’d like something permanent,” said city Park Director Ed Swicklas.
Their hope, Soltys said, is for the Bristol cricket players to be able to compete in a statewide cricket league.
The cricket players, Soltys said, all work in ESPN’s computer area, not the international departments.
“Our employee base has become more global,” said Soltys.
Every August, Soltys said, ESPN holds a multi-cultural fair for employees.
“The cricket group had a booth,” said Soltys, and “received considerable interest.”
Swicklas said that cricket players need a big area on which to play. They need a pitch about 140 yards square, he said, which is going to be hard to find space for.
The Park Board is also considering whether to put a bocce court on the west side of downtown’s Brackett Park.
“There is an area there we could probably do,” Park Director Ed Swicklas said.
Swicklas said the bocce court would require a 60-foot long course made of crushed stone or stone dust.
Pat Nelligan, a parks commissioner, said the city had a bocce court years ago, but it fell into disuse.
He said he would want to see whether there’s a genuinely renewed interest before approving the court.
Disc golf fans have also been pushing to have a course at a city park or perhaps at the former Roberts property on Chippens Hill.
A skatepark is slated for construction at Rockwell Park in the spring, after six years in the pipeline.
Officials said they’re willing to consider requests for new recreational fields and features that may attract a new generation to the parks.

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com