Setting Up a Soccer Field for Accessibility

As a coach, you want as many fans as possible to come to and enjoy your games. However, parents and other attendees won’t make it to the bleachers if they can’t access your facility.

Making sports facilities available to all spectators is a joint responsibility between coaches, athletes and the wider community. Before you can address needed upgrades, you must know what to do. Here are five tips for setting up a soccer field for accessibility.

1. Start With the Entryway

Non-disabled people often don’t realize all the closed doors that those with disabilities encounter each day. Not the metaphorical variety, although they meet with plenty of those, too. However, here, the term literally refers to those wooden or steel structures that allow or deny entrance. They must be at least 32” wide to meet the standards set forth by the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), but many older facilities have yet to upgrade.

You might not even recognize some accessibility issues. For example, you should replace twisting knobs with levers so that individuals with prosthetic hands or arthritis can access the entryway to the stands, restroom facilities and supply closets.

If you have fencing separating the bleachers from the field area, is the walkway wide enough to admit wheelchair access? If not, you might need to do some heavy-duty remodeling work. 

2. Evaluate Rest Facilities

Few things in life are more frustrating than desperately needing restroom facilities, only to find them inaccessible. The ADA establishes strict standards for bathroom access, but you can go further if you look at things from the perspective of someone with a disability.

For example, people with Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis often experience significant bathroom anxiety — you can ease it by ensuring that your facilities remain accessible and well-stocked with supplies. Being able to access the bathroom is only one aspect to tackle. Your spectators need ample hygiene supplies to feel clean and comfortable.

Space is another consideration. You need to have stall doors wide enough to admit a wheelchair and provide features like grab bars to facilitate the transfer from chair to toilet. If you have a powder area, it should also be open to all. It takes 60-inches of space for someone in a wheelchair to turn completely.

3. Have Wheelchair Accessible Seating

You might look at your bleachers as a training tool for your players. However, they can appear as daunting as Mt. Everest without a sherpa to someone with mobility issues. Leaving such guests to sit on the running track surrounding the field could expose them to hazards from stray balls and provide a less-than-ideal viewing experience.

However, wheelchair ramps have strict slope requirements — too steep, and it’s impossible to push a chair up the incline. What can you do if you don’t have much extra field space? Consider whether using a switchback design could create enough room for you to fit a row of wheelchair seating with one companion seat for each.

4. Create Space to Move Throughout

Your attendees also need full access to your concession areas. You know that navigating a crowded sports arena is tricky for non-disabled people. It becomes even more problematic when you rely on a chair, walker or another mobility device.

When setting up sawhorses and other crowd-flow devices, ensure that you leave adequate space for wheelchairs to pass comfortably. Ensure that counters at concession stands are low enough so that those in chairs can conduct their transactions with ease.

5. Providing Adequate Parking

When game day arrives, the bigger the crowd you have, the better — for everyone except those who can’t find adequate parking. It takes considerable space for attendees to move safely from their vehicles to their wheelchairs.

With the population’s increasing size, the ADA now requires more van-accessible parking, but you don’t have to undertake such upgrades until you plan a repaving project. For every six accessible spaces, you need one clearly labeled for this purpose. You also need to add signage mounted at least 5-feet above the ground.

Set Your Soccer Field Up for Accessibility With These Tips

When game day arrives, you want as many fans lining your stands as possible. Follow the five tips above to set up your soccer field for accessibility.

Author Bio:

Oscar Collins is the managing editor at Modded. He writes about cars, fitness, the outdoors and more. Follow @TModded on Twitter for more articles from the Modded team.