Ashland High School student athletes will soon lose an important practice and game field located across the street from the high school. The Ashland School District is proposing a housing project on a field used by over 90 Ashland High School soccer players as well as the AHS football team as a practice field. This housing project is proposed to break ground as soon as July 2025 so we need you to speak out now.     

The Ashland High School soccer program is growing with the highest number of soccer players playing this year in the program’s history, despite declining student enrollment at AHS. Ashland Soccer Club has grown in just 4 years from 150 kids to 350 currently. Many of these kids will continue to play at Ashland High School.   Sports are an inexpensive way for the community to support kids in their physical and emotional development. Athletics give kids a safe, fun, and engaging way to spend their free time. With only one playable multi-use sports field at the high school, the majority of student athletes will have to go off campus to participate in sports. This deprives our student athletes of a safe, convenient place to play soccer and football. The more barriers we put up for students to participate in sports, the less participation there will be. Coaches strive to build a strong community with their teams. By spreading out the varsity and junior varsity teams on different fields that require parents to provide transportation to and from school will make participating in sports prohibitive for some and building a community amongst the teams difficult.   

We must act now to prevent the loss of this field for our student athletes. Ashland School Board has already approved the demolition of this field. Show your support for the youth of Ashland and tell Ashland School Board an alternative location for the housing project must be found and the field across the street from Ashland High School needs to remain a sports field. By maintaining this sports field, we send a message to our community that we are committed to creating positive and healthy activities for our children.