West Louisville Soccer teams hope to return home with addition of new turf fields

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A $3.5 million expansion is coming to the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center in west Louisville, bringing the area a set of new athletic fields that coaches say is badly needed.

A giant grass area at the facility is where the expansion will be taking place. The plan is to add two full-size turf fields for people to play several sports, including soccer and flag football.

"Kids in this area typically don't play soccer because it is such a gatekept sport," said Lexi Caudill, coach of West Louisville Soccer. "So with West Louisville Soccer, it's presenting more of an opportunity to come to the west end with the kids and get them involved in this kind of sport and have them grow with it and learn it and love it."

These improvements come after leaders saw how many kids were playing on the grass area located inside the outdoor track.

"Eventually, after so many soccer games, the kids wore the field out," said Sadiqa Reynolds, founder and president of the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center. "And maybe less than a year ago, we had soccer officials come to us and say 'Enough is enough. You can't play here anymore. The space is not safe.'"

The fields were in such bad shape the West Louisville Soccer teams had to find another home.

"We need to bring them back," Reynolds said. "We've got six soccer teams that need to come back. We've got young people that want to play flag football. We need to get them back."

The six West Louisville teams have been playing at Central High School and Shawnee High School while they wait for the new fields.

Now, leaders on the project are looking toward funding.

Norton Healthcare pledged to match $1 million to help fund the expansion, and Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said, with approval from Metro Council, they'll provide $500,000 from next year's city budget.

"We got $1 million in the bank (and) can't take it out until we get another $1 million," Reynolds said. "When we get those $2 million, then we'll start."

The goal is to have the fields open before summer of 2026.

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