When will kids be able to play again at Catawba Park? It may depend on their sport

It’s unclear when Catawba Park in Tega Cay will fully reopen, as the city assesses damage from Hurricane Helene and works to figure out when sports seasons can resume.

On Monday afternoon, power was still out at the 62-acre park that opened two years ago along the banks of the Catawba River. Catawba Park has five baseball fields and three multipurpose fields. There’s also a playground and event lawn for large city functions.

The rectangular multipurpose fields sit closest to the river, and took the worst of Helene. Some fields were under water for a couple of days. The baseball fields weren’t as severely impacted.

“Two of the three soccer fields suffered the most damage,” said city spokeswoman Gretchen Kalar.

The city expected power back at the park by Tuesday. It will probably be the end of the week before officials know details on whether electronics were damaged or what might be needed to get fields ready for play. The city could open the park for some uses, perhaps even some team sports uses, while parts of the park that suffered the most damage remain closed.

Built along the Catawba, much of $14 million Catawba Park was designed for walking trails and passive recreation so construction wouldn’t disturb the river.

“Once we can get it safely open, we’ll open it to that pedestrian use,” Kalar said.

Youth sports waiting on Catawba Park update

In recent spring or fall seasons, Tega Cay has had up to 2,000 youth sports participants. Growth in youth sports programs was a main driver in the 15-year effort to build Catawba Park.

Many of those participants are waiting for answers, mid-way through their seasons.

Charlotte Independence partners with Tega Cay for the city’s soccer programs. Charlotte Independence emailed parents on dozens of teams Monday stating the park “has undergone significant flooding and unfortunately has gone through structural damage on the fields” due to the storm. The message notes the park will be closed at least through Sunday and all practices and games are suspended.

The city and club are working together on a plan to move forward with the season, according to the message.

The city has recreation programs for soccer, flag football and baseball. It also uses the park for travel tournaments, particularly for baseball.

Other Rock Hill area parks recover from Helene damage

There’s been a steady flow of new public parks along the Catawba River in recent years, including Catawba Park in Tega Cay. York County has major upgrades at Ebenezer Park in Rock Hill and Allison Creek Park in Lake Wylie, plus the coming Catawba Bend Preserve on the Rock Hill side of the river.

Rock Hill added a swim beach park to go with existing waterfront properties like River Park and the riverfront Piedmont Medical Center Trail at Riverwalk.

As of Monday afternoon in Rock Hill, Cherry Park and Rock Hill Lake Park were closed. The lake park opened Tuesday. So was Spencer Park including its dog park, the Piedmont trail at Riverwalk, River Park and the kayak launches along the trail at Riverwalk or River Park.

Hargett Park, Boyd Hill Recreation Center and Fewell Park Recreation Center reopened after closing due to the storm.

Damage hasn’t been reported at York County parks along the Catawba River.