Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
Phil Ogle, president of Total Sports Development, has a vision of bringing a facility similar to Lacey’s Regional Athletic Complex (RAC) and Spanaway’s Sprinker into the City of Yelm.
He proposed his concept during a Yelm City Council study session on Tuesday, Sept. 2.
According to TSD’s website, the nonprofit seeks to support all children in growing through sports and is committed to nurturing young minds and bodies in a fun, healthy and wholesome environment. Ogle noted he’s seeking a TSD partnership with the City of Yelm for the Yelm sports facility.
“What we’re asking for is a complete partnership,” Ogle said. “As a nonprofit, it is very hard to go out and get grants to attain land. It’s not what people want to see, whether it’s at the state or federal level. When you apply, they want to see 30- to 50-year long term leases or ownership. That way they can see the money that’s being invested stays there. Versus, I’m in a short term lease and they give ya $2 million and you put in a facility, and two years from now their money is wasted because they’re no longer there.”
According to the TSD president, the partnership structure would include the City of Yelm purchasing and owning the land and the athletic nonprofit organization managing and maintaining the buildings and facilities on the initial 8-acre property. TSD would also manage scheduling, staffing and community coordination, and would sign a 30- to 50-year lease to allow the nonprofit to seek and obtain federal and state grant money.
Ogle also gave the council some background information on himself, and said he runs Thurston County Youth Football League (TCYFL) — which includes both football and cheer. According to Ogle, several years ago, the TSD board of directors sat down and thought about what needs to change on the athletic scene in Yelm and determined the change needed to be more opportunity for development, training and competition in Thurston County.
TSD is currently located at 14438 Yelm Highway, with its location including indoor space and a large outdoor, covered area to practice. The project scope in TSD’s proposal includes the installation of two synthetic turf fields, which could host football, soccer, baseball and softball games due to its layout and design. Ogle compared the proposed fields to the facilities at Lynwood High School.
Additionally, Phase 1 would include restrooms, a concession area, storage facilities, lighting and bleachers.
Ogle claimed that land acquisition would be up to the City of Yelm, but facility development would be managed by TSD. He projects the installation of turf fields to cost between $4 million and $5.5 million and development of infrastructure to cost between $1 million and $2 million.
The total Phase 1 project cost is projected between $5 million and $7.5 million.
“Why are we doing it like this, is because it’s a multiple sport facility. It allows you to play baseball, softball — any of the ball sports, along with soccer and football. By utilizing the facility like this, it allows us to do more sports and bring more to the community. We’re at a monster need within Yelm,” Ogle said. “I don’t know if you guys know, on my way here tonight there was soccer at the middle school, with 400-plus kids at the high school right now with TCYFL. There’s a monster need for fields. I’m pretty sure there’s others in the community who know. We have no space for how quickly the community is growing, and that’s what we want to bring.”
TSD has been open and operating for just over a year, and Ogle presented its year one impacts to council. He claimed that roughly 1,500 athletes have been involved in TSD programming throughout the past year. Ogle added that TSD has provided over $30,000 in scholarships across the six different sports in the program.
Additionally, TSD hosts three large athletic tournaments in Yelm each year, which Ogle said brings in thousands of dollars in tax revenue to the City of Yelm.
He also spoke about his experience with insurance, noting TCYFL pays $80,000 in insurance.
“Football is a very violent sport — it’s controlled violence. Insurance is a little different,” Ogle said. “We also carry additional insurance, as to give you an example, I carry a $2 million policy on every board member within TSD. Why? So that way there’s nothing that comes back to us or my home, or if we make a mistake … you want to make sure you’re covered.”
Ogle noted that Phase 2 and 3 of the master plan would be in a different location near state Route 510 and Cullens Road Southeast.
“We would like to build a state of the art baseball facility. I’m pretty sure nobody in the state has eight full sized fields in a single complex. You have a lot of people down at Thorbeckes where they have multiple leagues. Some of them you can’t play high school baseball on,” Ogle said. “We hosted and co-hosted a lot of events. The revenue stream that comes into this city is astronomical and monstrous. There’s plenty of room within this. I’ve met with some community leaders as far as the benefits. Water and sewer is already run to the corners of that lot there, so it’s a very easy tie-in as far as a community-based program goes.
“As a youth sports facility, I don’t think we have any issues of where we can put a facility like that. This is something near and dear. This is a great access for people to come in, participate in something, and then they can go shopping,” he added. “It’s very minimal impact on the community. You’re barely coming into Yelm to get into this facility at Phase 2 and 3 – if you need to leave you can leave. But it’s also really easy to get into the local restaurants for dining, and so forth.”
Ogle noted that the current TSD location is just outside of Yelm city limits, but will be inside of the limits soon with a planned annexation. He added that TSD isn’t seeking funding for Phase 2 and Phase 3 — strictly Phase 1.
“The ultimate plan, down the road, would be complimentary services as far as restaurants and so forth. It’s us, as a sports organization, we want to bring more outdoor space and indoor space, truthfully,” Ogle said. “One of the ideas is to have a fully enclosed football dome on this property, just because it rains in Washington.”
