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Moving beyond the goal
A year after opening, youth sports park has additions under way
By NICK REISMAN

Published: Monday, May 05, 2008

ERIN REID COKER - coker@poststar.com


Adirondack Golden Goal Tournament Park Director Darby Diedrich talks about one of four turf athletic fields Friday afternoon at the Fort Ann youth soccer and lacrosse park. On Friday, workers were seen constructing new cabins as well as leveling one of two new grass fields.

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Photo Gallery: See more of the expansion at Golden Goal Park.

FORT ANN -- Over the strains of a Bruce Springsteen song piped in over a loudspeaker, Darby Diedrich was showing off the latest enhancements to the Golden Goal Youth Soccer Tournament Park on a rainy Friday afternoon.

Buzzing around the 200-acre park in a golf cart with the name "Darby" written on the front, the park manager was clearly proud of the landscaping efforts.

"You can't find a spot here any night," Diedrich said, pointing at a cluster of brightly-colored Adirondack chairs that offer a view of most of the facility's fields. "And when the lights are on, it's just beautiful."

It was a rainy, gray Friday afternoon. But workers were building the frame of what would be an extra-large bunkhouse for a visiting team. Surveyors were checking the gradient of a field under construction.

One year after Golden Goal Tournament Park opened its doors, the facility is expanding.

Construction is under way on four bunk houses for players and the facility is also laying down sod for two mixed-use fields.

"We're still expanding," said Peter Corbett, the president and chief operating officer of Golden Goal LLC, the company that built the park. "We have some tremendous programs going on."

The park was able to attract the US Lacrosse U-15 Festival, which will be held from June 20-22. The festival is for boys and girls teams made up of 13- and 14-year-old players.

The event is expected to draw thousands to the area, according to its organizers.

"The US Lacrosse Festival is a great opportunity to not only expose Golden Goal, but Fort Ann and Glens Falls," Corbett said. "It's going to be a tremendous opportunity to expose ourselves to a very large market to people from all over the place."

As the facility itself grows, economic and business observers say it is likely the region will see new activity as well.

Paul Goodman, whose family sold part of its adjacent farmland for the park's original development, said his family is hoping to build approximately 20 log cabin-style units to house the families and fans of soccer and lacrosse players.

Permits to build the units haven't been obtained yet, Goodman said, and the units likely won't be opened until 2009.

Meanwhile, the Goodmans recently built an ice cream stand that sits off the road that bears the family's name. They plan to be in business this summer, possibly at the end of June.

It wouldn't be surprising if development geared to the park starts to crop up in the Fort Ann area, said Lake George Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Louisa Craige-Sherman.

"Especially with gas prices, people want to do a lot of things in a concentrated area," she said. "I think you will see some development in Route 149 and going out in the Fort Ann area."

At the same time, the town and village of Fort Ann are moving forward with a multi-year development effort that's aimed at bringing new businesses and tourists to the area.

For the short term, Lake George merchants have taken notice of the clientele in town for soccer or lacrosse.

"Our members that are in both the restaurants and hotels and attractions, certainly it was very recognizable for them when teams would come into town," Craige-Sherman said.

Leonard Fosbrook, president of the Warren County Economic Development Corp., said it's too soon to tell what impact the park will have on the area.

"It's a great amenity to have, but I don't think we have any measurable statistics yet," he said.