06 May, 2021
The vision In 2001, Chris Baer and a group of Ohio Premier Soccer Club coaches traveled with their teams to play at the St. Louis Soccer Park (currently the World Wide Technology Soccer Park ), a six field soccer specific complex in Fenton, Missouri. When they got back to Ohio, they made a pact: to get Ohio Premier its own soccer complex Now, twenty years later, Ohio Premier boasts a five field complex with two full turf fields, two Kentucky bluegrass fields and a state of the art Bermuda grass field. “At the time, we were just a group of young, ambitious coaches with A licenses who wanted to keep challenging each other,” says Chris Baer. “We wanted to push each other and the club to improve. Having our own facility would allow us to do more for our players.” For the entirety of its history, Ohio Premier had rented fields from the city, competing with other clubs and sports for field space. The fields were grass, there wasn’t a single turf field in the area, and the club had to rent indoor facilities in the winter. Field rentals and facility costs were a significant portion of the club’s budget. When rental prices increased, the club began to seriously consider building its own facility The Ohio Premier board looked at building an indoor facility at first. “We spent so much on rentals in the winter that we thought it would make the most sense. Over time that idea evolved into building all-weather turf fields that would be playable all year long.” In addition to turf fields, Ohio Premier wanted fast-playing grass fields similar to those in Arizona and Southern California. “We would play against west coast clubs and our teams would be a step slower because we were used to playing on grass that just didn’t play as fast,” says Baer. “It was important to us to have a surface that would allow us to match their speed of play.” That meant that they wanted a full Bermuda grass field, a rarity in Ohio. Baer and the team knew what they wanted, but had no idea how to get it.