Morales' other experience fits into sports park management

Kevin Morales, the director/manager of the Ingold Family Sports Park, has not previously managed a park. But his management and recreational background have led him to his current position.

“This is a different opportunity in life,” Morales noted. “I really am very flattered that they would hire me.”

The Fallbrook Sports Association hired Morales to run the park in October. “This is a new thing for me,” he said. “I’m very familiar with sports and sports activities, but I’ve never previously managed a park before.”

One of the tasks of the Ingold Family Sports Park manager is coordinating leagues and schedules. In that respect the biggest change for Morales is from an unpaid to a professional position, since he was the registrar for the Fallbrook Youth Soccer League prior to assuming the sports park duties.

“The registrar basically does everything that a park manager does,” Morales explained.

One difference is that the registrar assigns players to teams through paperwork while Morales handles telephone calls. That makes his park duties more complex than his registrar background. “I didn’t realize how much time it actually took,” he noted. “It’s just so hard when there are so many things going on.”

Morales considers the 20 to 40 phone calls per day his biggest adjustment, but the positive side is that the calls allow for personal contact. “I’m a personal person. I love people,” he remarked.

Morales was on the Fallbrook Youth Soccer League board for four years but stepped down when he became the park manager. His three children — 12-year-old Chelsea, 10-year-old Brandon, and 6-year-old Chad — all use the park. “That’s probably one of my motivations for actually doing this,” he said of taking the park manager position. “We’ve always been connected in some way or another to Fallbrook sports.”

Morales himself grew up in Burbank, where as a youth he played Little League Baseball, Pop Warner Football, and recreational basketball and table tennis.

He also played tennis, which was the only sport in which he lettered at John Burroughs High School in Burbank. “That was my passion in high school,” he noted.

Morales tried out for the tennis team at Cal State University Northridge; he practiced with the team but never played in a collegiate match. He later taught tennis for a City of Burbank recreational program.

Ironically, Morales never played organized soccer as a youth. Morales’ two sons both play in the Fallbrook Youth Soccer League; Brandon is in the Fury system and Chad started organized soccer this year. Chelsea Morales was previously on the Fury but is now with the Southwest Soccer Club in Temecula, where the family moved ten years ago because Morales’ wife wanted more opportunities for the children.

His wife, Ereeny, works in escrow. Morales had been in the grocery business prior to accepting the sports park position. After graduating from Cal State Northridge with a degree in education, he sought his teaching credential and worked nights at a grocery store so that he could spend time with the children while his wife worked during the day. Before his switch to recreation, he had been a foreman in the grocery industry, giving him professional management experience from that sector.

The Ingold Community Sports Park was funded by the County of San Diego and by private donations, most noticeably from the Ingold family and the Ingold Foundation. The park is on county land which is leased to the Fallbrook Sports Association, and although it is a private recreational facility it is open to the public. The Phase I improvements were opened to the public in May 2000,and the most recent improvements were completed in September 2004. The Fallbrook Sports Association is currently constructing the restroom, concession, and office building, which is expected to be completed in February.

The county’s Department of Parks and Recreation had been handling the scheduling, management, and other organization of the sports leagues and other programs at the park, although the Fallbrook Sports Association had been managing maintenance. On October 27 the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement in which the Fallbrook Sports Association took over operation of the sports park as well as maintenance. Under that agreement the FSA’s operations responsibilities include coordinating and overseeing operations of sports leagues and rental of fields for recreational use.

Morales was invited to apply for the park manager position. “There’s a lot of opportunity here,” he said.

After the application process, Morales was offered the job. “Everything in life is a risk, so I decided to take it,” he remarked.

“I’m just very, very pleased to be in this position,” he noted. “It is one of those dream jobs if it all comes to fruition.”

His primary goal is to maximize user participation. “It’s really to get more people up here enjoying sports activities,” he explained.

That includes some hopeful expansion to make the park even more user-friendly. “There’s still about an acre of land that is unused,” Morales said. “Overall this park is just in the beginning stages of going to the next level.”