Adult and youth sports leagues in The Woodlands will have a new place to play when The Woodlands Township’s Gosling Sports Complex opens this spring. The finishing touches are being put on the five new multipurpose fields, which will be available for approved sports organizations in the community. 

“Youth sports have always been popular in our community,” said Chris Nunes, parks and recreation department director. “I think it’s [because we have] these facilities as well as all the neighborhood parks where kids start out by just throwing or kicking a ball.” 

The township undertook a parks and recreation needs assessment in 2011. Through a public survey and meetings with a number of different community groups, officials determined a deficiency in the number of sports fields in the community, Nunes said. The report states that by 2025, an additional 24 new game fields will be needed in The Woodlands.

The township created a plan to address several of the issues in the report, which included installing lighting at various village parks, changing the surface at six fields from grass to artificial turf, and developing a new sports complex with three artificial turf and two grass fields.

Construction began on the sports complex in mid-2014 at Gosling Road and Marisco Place. The facility is comparable to the size of the Bear Branch Sports Complex and features multipurpose fields on which a number of sports, ranging from rugby to flag football to lacrosse, can be played.

While Nunes said the new complex will help with the increased demand for using the township’s existing sports fields, the need is still present.

“The real challenge is that everybody wants Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 6-8 p.m.,” Nunes said. “That’s only six hours, but a lot of folks want to use the fields. A lot of existing organizations want to expand the number of hours they use, and we also get continued requests from folks who aren’t approved organizations that want to host practices there and play games.”

To become an approved sports organization through the township, groups need to have a certain number of players who live in The Woodlands and provide other documentation, such as nonprofit status and financials. Once the organization is approved, it can begin setting reservations for practices and games on the township’s fields.

Although the township’s three sports complexes—Alden Bridge, Bear Branch and Gosling—are where the majority of games are played, a number of community parks are used as well.

Several leagues in the community have their own facilities on which to play, providing more flexibility for practice and game times. A youth sports tackle football program, The South County Football League, has approximately 750 members who practice in The Woodlands area at Gullo Park.

“I think everyone has the mentality that an occupied kid, especially one in sports, is a successful one and is given opportunities to build great character and confidence to grow as a young person,” President Eric Endicott said. “There are three entities in the area that have really driven the sports culture in The Woodlands: Montgomery County leadership, The Woodlands Township leadership and Conroe ISD. Those groups have always worked with all the sports leagues to make sure there are facilities available for the youth to participate in sports.”