A professional soccer franchise and a leading installer of artificial and natural turf athletic fields recently partnered to enhance ADA-compliant services in a Cincinnati-area park that accommodates children with special needs.
Last August, FC Cincinnati Foundation, The Motz Group, Cincinnati TOPSoccer and the City of Mason worked together to bring a high-performance sports field to Makino Park, an accessible facility in Mason. The vision was to create an inclusive place where children could enjoy a playground and sports field experience that is similar to any other park, while being ADA-compliant. That vision culminated in the creation of Common Ground Playground at Makino Park. While the pandemic and weather created some challenges, the complex was completed by early summer.
FC Cincinnati Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the FC Cincinnati MLS franchise, and The Motz Group has installed more than 500 natural grass and artificial turf athletic fields, including surfaces for FC Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Bengals, Cincinnati Reds, Ohio State, Baltimore Raven and Indianapolis Colts. TOPSoccer is a competitive play league for children with special needs.
The group built a facility that is conducive to the needs of participants in wheelchairs.
The Makino Park complex consists of a Motz InPlay five-a-side system, as well as a butterfly-shaped playground and a connecting sidewalk to the concession stands and other facilities. Before the project began, representatives from both FC Cincinnati Foundation and The Motz Group met with TOPSoccer athletes who provided insight to challenges they have experienced at other ADA-accessible locations. The group built a facility that is conducive to the needs of participants in wheelchairs. Based on athlete feedback, and lab testing that was completed to validate the system, it was determined that a slit-film synthetic turf product on the InPlay system, paired with a shock pad and SafeShell infill, would create an ADA-compliant system that would be high performing and have low rolling resistance.
Each year, The Motz Group, which is an employee-owned company, takes a day away from the office and building fields to join forces for a community-based project in the Cincinnati area. Common Ground Park was intended to be a 2020 service project for all employees and partners, but the Covid pandemic changed all that. Instead, a truncated team of field installers completed the project, with help from Shaw Sports Turf and Schmitz Foam Products, both of whom donated product for the project.
Makino Park is a multi-sport complex that has Common Ground (a butterfly-shaped playground), a soccer field and three baseball fields, all of which are ADA-compliant facilities.