Oakridge Neighbourhood
Mini-Pitch

The Challenge

Oakridge Neighbourhood is Iowa’s largest Section 8 housing complex and provides both affordable housing and supportive human services programmes for over 1000 residents. When considering campus wellness and recreation upgrades, Oakridge wanted to add a lasting installation that would increase opportunities for safe family fun, recreation, and exercise. Because half its residents are children and nearly three quarters are immigrants, Oakridge leaders decided that building a football facility would be of special interest and value to the community.

The Solution

Oakridge Neighbourhood partnered with the nonprofit Kick it Forward and the future Des Moines professional football team Pro Iowa, which was working to build 10 mini-football pitches around Iowa using Musco’s Mini-Pitch System™ modular sports solution. The Mini-Pitch System™ comes complete with fencing, goals, benches, and ADA-compliant access, and it can be installed by a crew of three in just two days. Musco installed the pitch on a newly poured concrete pad between four residential buildings, where its netting keeps football balls on the court and its TLC for LED® lights extend play time by an average of nearly three hours per day without affecting neighbours with spill light or glare. Control-Link™ service allows staff to operate the lights remotely via smartphone, and Musco’s parts and labour warranty eliminates all maintenance costs for Oakridge for 10 years.