Central Islip, NY - October 4, 2014 - The Suffolk County Police Athletic League, Inc will be opening the first of two sports fields Saturday, October 4 at its new Clayton Street Sports Complex, in Central Islip. The park is a collaborative effort between Suffolk PAL, Town of Islip and the New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, with the goal of providing additional sports fields in Central Islip.
“I applaud Suffolk County PAL and all of the collaborating partners for ensuring that the youth of Central Islip and surrounding communities now have access to another recreational field,” said County Executive Steve Bellone. “It was a priority of mine to ensure that throughout this summer, youth of Central Islip and surrounding communities had evening activities to participate in. The Suffolk County Summer Youth Connection serviced over 350 youth for 7 weeks this summer offering a variety of activities including: career workshops, basketball skill training, open gym, hip-hop dance instruction, step instruction, and Friday night mentoring.”
Planning for this project began in 2009 and with the Town of Islip and Suffolk County PAL. Robert Folks, President of Suffolk PAL said “it has long been a vision of our Board of Directors to expand our presence in this community by providing programs and facilities which support the needs of the children and their families.” George Waldbauer, Executive Director stated, “Through this collaborative effort with the Town of Islip, we were able to garner resources and build our “Fields for Kids” sports complex enabling us to expand our programs in Central Islip.”
PAL was able to get assistance through the NYS Parks and Historic Preservation grant program which provided some of the needed resources to begin the project. The Town of Islip and PAL provided the balance of the funding for this project
The complex will provide two multisport fields for football, soccer and lacrosse. The complex is located on Clayton Street between Lowell Avenue and Audwin Drive in Central Islip.
Opening ceremonies will start at 10:00 a.m., followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Central Islip PAL youth football teams will then play on their new home field for the first time. Music and food will be provided by the Suffolk PAL.