Rhiannon Growney, along with other parents who spoke anonymously, said she remembers excitement about the building turning to anxiety.
SUFFOLK, VA —
A Suffolk youth soccer team is facing backlash from parents.
The Suffolk Youth Athletic Association (SYAA) indoor soccer facility recently failed an inspection by the city's fire marshal. The building, where children used to play indoor soccer games, is zoned as a warehouse with a capacity of just 26 people.
Rhiannon Growney said her family was joining the league in 2022 and was excited when the new indoor facility was announced.
“One of the big conversations since we started going there in 2022 was that there would be an indoor sports complex,” she told 13News Now.
Former SYAA coach Vicki Shull stopped working with the league before the facility was built, but she witnessed the excitement surrounding the facility.
“They said, 'We're going to build this indoor soccer facility, and we're going to offer something that no one else has,'” Schull said. “I didn’t know it was actually built as a storage facility.”
Growney, along with other parents who spoke anonymously, said they remember excitement turning to anxiety.
“We were so excited because construction started on the building in the summer. The kids were going to play indoors,” she explained. “But we saw signs that there was occupancy for 26 people.”
The city Fire Department cited SYAA on March 26 after an inspection for “unlawful change of use.” The report called the building unsafe and asked the league to postpone all activities inside.
A representative for SYAA told 13News Now that the building has not been used for anything other than storage since these violations and that they have hired an architect to help with renovations. They added that they were very satisfied with the city's assistance in resolving the issue.
A Suffolk City representative said no conditional use permit (CUP) has been applied for the building, but the violations have been “mitigated.” The representative emphasized that the city is working with the league to bring the facility into compliance.
But parents like Rhiannon and her husband Matthew still want answers.
“It's just concrete blocks. It's almost like a giant shed,” Matthew said. He said other parents were also concerned, especially about the lack of cushioning on the walls. “Someone was going to run into that wall and get hurt.”
Rhiannon added: “I was appalled that they would put their children at risk.”