Recreational and travel teams could share parks

Council members propose idea to panel

St. Charles Parish Councilman-at-large Terry Authement and District III Councilwoman Wendy Benedetto met with parish officials last week with a plan to bring parish recreational baseball groups and travel team baseball groups together in the parish.

Both council members hope by establishing recreational policy and procedures that the travel and rec teams can share use of the parish parks.

“Although both sports have similarities, travel teams are privately formed, so that’s one difference,” Benedetto said. “I think that’s one of the issues that have been part of the reason we’re not allowed to use the facilities in the parish as much as we’d like to.”

Authement believes that an opportunity to bring the travel teams and the recreational department together to discuss the issues could help resolve the problems.

“We took the first step of opportunity that night,” he said about the meeting. “We heard ideas and concerns and possibly will transform how things have been in the past and advance in breaking new ground in the parish.”

Parish President V. J. St. Pierre, Jr. says the travel team issue is still a work in progress.

In a letter from Authement to St. Pierre, Authement reminds St. Pierre that he said he would be ‘working on a procedures manual to describe the how too as it relates to our recreational facilities and that it will address ideas and concerns associated with travel teams.”

Authement went on to state that the parish will hold the final decision about these procedures and everyone should understand that aspect.

“There are times when travel baseball teams have been using the fields for practice and are asked to leave by someone from the recreation department,” Benedetto said. “These are the types of problems we’re trying to eliminate.”

Authement estimates that there are at least 25 travel teams owned by parish residents.

“But I’m not a 100 percent sure about that number,” Authement said. “There could be more.”

Benedetto says that she’s heard complaints from residents about this and is pleased that now both sides are working together to come to an agreement.

Authement said right now the travel baseball teams are allowed to practice on six fields.

But Authement says over the years, communication break downs have caused travel teams waiting to use the parks, to bump heads with recreation teams already practicing and using the field.

“A procedures manual would be a great start to helping the communication about the use of the fields,” he said.

“I think that a lot of the problems were communication issues, because sometimes a rec team and a travel team were both trying to use the field at the same time.”