An Open Letter to Fernandina Beach

To the Fernandina Beach City Commission, our local newspaper, and the residents of this community:

I am writing this not just as a resident of Fernandina Beach, but as a father of a 15-year-old who plays soccer through Amelia Island Youth Soccer. And I am writing because I believe we are overlooking something much bigger than a soccer field.

We are overlooking our teenagers.

Fernandina Beach is a wonderful place to live. It has a beautiful downtown, a strong history, community traditions, and plenty of activities for families with younger children and adults. But there is a demographic that seems to consistently fall through the cracks: our teenagers.

I have been a part of Fernandina for close to 40 years. This isn't a new problem brought about by recent growth. I have watched this community struggle with providing meaningful activities for teenagers for as long as I can remember. I watched my own uncle, along with others growing up here, experience what happens when young people have too much free time, too few opportunities, and very little to keep them engaged.

And here we are, decades later, still having essentially the same conversation.

Look around. We have a tremendous number of young families moving into our community. We have children everywhere. Whether some longtime residents welcome that growth or not, it is happening. Those children aren't going to stay children forever. In five, eight, or ten years, today's little league players, elementary school students, and playground regulars will be teenagers themselves.

What are we doing to prepare for that?

We have downtown trick-or-treating, Christmas festivities, family events, and plenty of wonderful activities for younger children. Just this past Halloween, however, where were the opportunities specifically intended for teenagers? Much of what our community offers is geared toward little children or adults and the bar scene. There is a significant gap in between.

Our teenagers don't suddenly stop needing community, social interaction, recreation, and a place to belong just because they have outgrown the playground.

This is why the Ybor Alvarez soccer fields matter so much.

I understand that there are financial realities, land-use complications, and competing priorities. I am not suggesting that these decisions are simple or that the City has unlimited money. I also understand that the commissioners face difficult choices.

But everyone should really know what is at stake.

Amelia Island Youth Soccer serves approximately 800 local children. That is not a small recreational program serving a handful of families. That is hundreds of children, parents, siblings, coaches, and volunteers who have built a community around this organization.And among those children are teenagers.

For my son, soccer is about friendships, teammates, responsibility, commitment, discipline, and having somewhere to go and something positive to be part of. It is about knowing that there are other people in this community who share something with you and being part of something bigger than yourself.

If these fields disappear and the organization loses its ability to operate effectively, what exactly are we offering these young people in its place? Where do they go? What organized activities are available to them? What opportunities do they have to build friendships outside of school, develop healthy interests, and become invested in the community they call home?

We cannot continually complain about teenagers hanging around with nothing productive to do, worry about rising youth behavioral problems, or express frustration when young people become disconnected from their community while simultaneously failing to provide them with opportunities to be involved. That is not a fair expectation to place on our children.

I am not suggesting that every teenager who lacks an activity will get into trouble. But I am saying that positive outlets matter. Structure matters. Belonging matters. Giving young people something to look forward to matters.

I also think we need to consider what happens when we lose something like this. We lose the friendships formed between children who might otherwise never meet. We lose the relationships between parents who become neighbors, friends, and volunteers. We lose opportunities for younger children to look up to older players. We lose coaches, mentors, and the connections that make a community feel like a community. These things are difficult to measure on a city budget spreadsheet, but their value is enormous.

 Moving programs elsewhere creates challenges. Simply saying that children can play somewhere else does not mean we have provided an equivalent opportunity. And let's remember something: the soccer program has not been standing still. It has grown, it has adapted, and families have continued to support it despite years of uncertainty. This is an opportunity to invest in something that is already working.

I keep coming back to a simple thought: Invest in your future.

In just a few short years, these teenagers will be adults. They will be voting in local elections. They will be entering the workforce, starting businesses, raising families, volunteering, and deciding whether Fernandina Beach is a place they want to remain and invest their own futures in. What kind of message are we sending them today?

Are we telling them that this is their community, too? That their interests, development, and well-being matter? Or are we telling them that the things they depend on are expendable when other priorities arise? We cannot continually talk about preserving the character of Fernandina Beach while overlooking the people who will eventually carry that character forward.

A community is not just its historic buildings, its restaurants, its beaches, its golf courses, or its tourism. A community is also its children. And eventually, those children become the adults who sustain everything we claim to value.

I am not asking the City to disregard its financial responsibilities. I am asking it to recognize that investing in youth is a financial and social investment in the future of this community.

I am asking our commissioners not to close the door on the soccer fields without fully exploring every reasonable avenue to preserve this space. Consider financing arrangements, leasing alternatives, private investment, and any other practical options that could keep these fields available. If the existing property cannot be secured, then commit to a realistic, adequately funded alternative that does not simply push the problem onto another organization or another community.

And most importantly, do not leave our youth organizations and families without a definitive plan.

The November 17 meeting is an important opportunity for our elected officials to reconsider what is being lost and what can still be done. I hope they recognize that this decision deserves more than a quick calculation of land costs and competing uses.

I know I am not alone in feeling this way. There are hundreds of families who understand what these programs mean to their children. There are parents who spend evenings on those sidelines, volunteers who give their time, coaches who invest themselves in these kids, and young people who look forward to every practice and every game.

 We have seen the gap in opportunities for teenagers for a long time now. For those who are newer to the area, perhaps this is your opportunity to help change that.

And for those who have children who are still young, I would ask you to think about where they will be five or ten years from now. Today's decision affects their future, too.

This is not just about soccer. It is about giving our kids a reason to participate in their community, a place to belong, and an opportunity to grow into the adults we hope they will become.

We should be building those opportunities, not allowing them to disappear.

One day, these children will be the ones making decisions about Fernandina Beach. I would much rather they grow up remembering a community that invested in them than one that couldn't find room for them. Please don't let us look back five or ten years from now and realize that we had an opportunity to do something meaningful for our children and chose not to. Our kids are counting on us. And I believe our community's future is counting on us, too.

Respectfully,

A Father, a Resident, and a Member of the Fernandina Beach Community
-Patrick Sherwood