OSCEOLA, Iowa — A new recreation facility brings new and expanded opportunities to the city of Osceola.

The city of Osceola has approved plans to build a new mini-pitch facility, which will be used for soccer and other activities.

The pitch is a 60 ft. x 120 ft. playing field on concrete, a smaller version of a soccer field with walls as the out-of-bounds area. Due to the concrete layer of the pitch, it can be used year-round for various programming and as an alternate practice area when grass fields are wet.

The project was proposed to the city of Osceola by a non-profit organization called Kick It Forward. The non-profit has helped install 55 of these mini-pitches across the U.S. through its fundraising efforts.

The city has agreed to pay its portion of the funding for concrete, electrical, and other necessary systems totaling around $80,000. Kick it Forward is leading the fundraising effort of $135,000 for the system itself and the typical pieces of a soccer pitch.

Ty Wheeler is the City Administrator for Osceola and said that a project like this is necessary for the city.

“Everybody’s very excited,” Wheeler said. “We’ve got a pretty robust and growing soccer scene in this community, which is why I think [Kick it Forward] was interested in partnering with Osceola on a project like this. Our youth program has been quite popular over the last decade and is growing. We’ve now got a high school team in place, and we’ve got a lot of just adult sort of pick up soccer happening pretty much throughout the year whenever it’s nice enough to play.” 

The new mini-pitch will be built east of Clarke Community Schools on the north side of Osceola, just south of the grass community fields and beside the city’s pool.

Construction on the mini-pitch is expected to break ground next Spring.

The link to make a donation to the project can be found here.