New soccer court comes to South Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Hinton Park in South Fresno now has the first public futsal court in the City of Fresno.

“When you think of basketball, you don’t think of people carrying their basketball hoop to go play at the park, that’s usually there but when it comes to a soccer goal? That’s not something that’s very common,” Pedro Navarro Cruz from Love Peace & Futbol said.

Futsal is a fast-paced five v. five game similar to soccer that’s played on a hard surface. This court is about the size of a tennis court, but it has unique markings and slightly smaller goals.

Navarro Cruz says this kind of court is easier to maintain, rather than grass that needs to be watered and mowed.

He’s worked for years to develop the organization and help get the court and goals set up at the park on Fairview Avenue.

“When it comes to soccer there aren’t that many opportunities in this part of Fresno to go out and play and develop themselves to hopefully this can mark the beginning of something new,” he said.

Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias agrees and says South Fresno was identified in the Parks Master Plan as the area with the greatest need. He says money from Measure P is what’s funding this project.

“It has the least green space in the whole city of Fresno, was primarily in the south part of the city,” Arias said.

Arias says Hinton Park also got upgrades to other park infrastructure and even brand-new restrooms. He says next, the focus is expanding to include other high-need areas like west Fresno.

“We’re also breaking ground, later in a month on the new 10-acre west Fresno park in the same vicinity so west Fresno will be getting a new park and 3 renovated existing parks just in the next year,” Arias added.

More information about Love Peace & Futbol can be found here, and additional information about Measure P can be found here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com.