SUFFOLK, Va. —
A Suffolk youth soccer organization is facing backlash from parents.
The Suffolk Youth Athletic Association’s (SYAA) indoor soccer facility recently failed an inspection by the city's fire marshal. The building, where kids played indoor soccer games, is zoned as a storage unit with a capacity for just 26 people.
Rhianon Growney said her family joined the league in 2022 and they were excited about the indoor facility when it was announced.
“Since we started going there in 2022, that’s been one of the big talks, that there was going to be an indoor sports complex,” she told 13News Now.
Vicki Schull, a former coach at SYAA, stopped working with the league before the facility was built, but she saw the excitement surrounding it.
“They said, ‘Hey, we’re going to build this indoor soccer facility, we’re going to offer this thing nobody else has,” said Schull. “I didn’t know it was actually built as a storage facility.”
Growney, along with other parents who spoke anonymously, said she remembers her excitement turning to worry.
“The building started being constructed in the summer, so we were really excited. The kids were going to get to play indoors,” she explained. “But I saw that there had been a sign that the occupancy had been for 26 people.”
The city fire marshal cited SYAA on March 26 after an inspection for “illegal change of use.” The report said the structure was unsafe and demanded the league postpone all activities inside of it.
A SYAA representative told 13News Now that since those violations, the building has not been used for anything but storage and they’ve hired an architect to help make modifications. They added they’ve been very happy with the city’s help in fixing the issues.
A City of Suffolk representative said while there is no conditional use permit (CUP) on file for the building, the violation has been “abated.” That representative emphasized the city is working with the league to get the facility up to code.
However, parents like Rhianon and her husband, Matthew, are still seeking answers.
“It’s just a cinderblock, it’s like a giant shed, almost,” said Matthew. He said other parents were also worried, especially about the lack of padding on the walls. “Someone was going to go into that wall and get hurt.”
Rhianon added, “Endangering the kids, I was appalled by that.”
Addendum: This story previously featured video of an unrelated indoor soccer facility. That site is not relevant to the story. 13News Now has corrected the mistake, and the video has been removed.
