Play Ball! (Or Frisbee)

North Amherst playing field (left)

Back when I was growing up in our sleepy little college town, w-a-y back, before the Southwest high rise towers or W.E.B. Du Bois Library first poked the sky, a playing field in Amherst pretty much meant baseball and football.

Soccer or Ultimate Frisbee were as foreign as a place called Vietnam.

These days God's green earth must be multipurposed, to keep all the outdoor sports enthusiasts happy.

And while Amherst has more Conservation open space than you can shake a hiking stick at, the number of playing fields for organized sports have failed to keep up with demand.

The old "cow field" in North Amherst, formerly the playground attached to the now retired North Amherst School, will get a $50,000 makeover with Community Preservation Act money assuming the CPA Committee forwards the request to Town Meeting for the final approval.

A fence along the border with Sunderland Road will certainly make it safer, and parking for 15 cars at the north end of the field will keep users from having to cross Sunderland Road.

The renovations would take place during the fall of 2015 and spring of 2016, and be ready for use later that summer.

In this age where youngsters are all too occupied by smart phones, computers and tablets, it's nice to see the return of an old fashioned playing field for team sports.

Or just a soft quiet place to lay down late on a hot summer night, to gaze up at the wonder of the universe.