Northeast soccer complex pulls neighborhood together - KansasCity.com

Saul Rodriguez pulls up at dusk, puts on his shoes and surveys the competition-sized soccer field he’s heard so much about.
“Synthetic,” he says, pointing to the turf with a grin. “You can play in the rain.”
He will be back, and bring his friends.

The fields here are ready, the rest of the new Ninth and Van Brunt complex soon will be, and already people from Kansas City’s Northeast neighborhood are talking about what it will mean for the community.
Next week, the Mayor’s Night Kicks tournament will begin here, attracting soccer players and fans from all over the city to the Northeast. This fall, the Northeast Sports Alliance, a youth soccer league formed in 2010 for neighborhood children, will have a consistent place to practice.
And now, the Northeast neighborhood has a central location, complete with an amphitheater, athletic fields, walking trail and concession stand, to call its own.

With its main field and two practice fields, the new complex may not compare to the massive Overland Park Soccer Complex, which opened in 2009 with 12 regulation-sized fields. But it may be even more important to a neighborhood that previously had to drive miles to find a field that even had a goal.
For decades, the Northeast has been known as a starting point into America. In the past 15 years, the neighborhood has become a true melting pot, attracting immigrants and refugees from all over the world. They hail from Russia, the Sudan, the Middle East, Latin America, Somalia …

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