Oyster Bay and East Norwich are experiencing a problem with not having enough playing fields to adequately provide for athletic opportunities to young people in the community.

It is not a new problem. Over the years coaches have talked about the problems and how they solved them through unique scheduling. A girls basketball team practiced in the fall because there was nowhere to practice what is considered a winter sport - in the community. The Oyster Bay-East Norwich Soccer Club has been negotiating with private schools for the use of their fields.

Oyster Bay and East Norwich are a wonderful place to bring up children and more and more families have been coming here to live because of the quality of life in the area. This is a family friendly community and parents are willing to devote time and effort into their children's education, including sports.

The Oyster Bay-East Norwich Soccer team is one good example. The parents volunteer to coach the children. They work to raise funds for the club at every Oyster Festival. They try to keep costs affordable. They are doing their part.

Recently they met with the Town of Oyster Bay Parks Department Commissioner hoping to resolve that need for fields. They suggested that the Stillwell Fields might be handled similarly to the way fields are given out in the Town of North Hempstead where a joint field serves many villages.

The suggestion that the Stillwell fields be used by both Syosset and Oyster Bay-East Norwich appears to be a very workable solution. The soccer club has done their homework to make sure that the solution is viable.

We hope the town considers the need, which they have already acknowledged, and broadens the use of the Stillwell Fields for the betterment of all the children.

There is a true need for open space in this area. While much has been preserved for the benefit of the groundwater and protection of the bay - those parcels are often tucked away on private property or preserves that benefit the community in different ways.

In this case, the proposal asks for no more land, just a better management of existing land. We see it as a positive use of the fields.

We again hope the town will see this as an easy and viable solution to a great need. - DFK