How has nobody reviewed this place yet? Seriously?
I'm really glad this is called Sahlen's Sports Park, and not Saline Sports Park. Because if it was Saline, then everyone playing soccer here would have implants. Including the boys. And while that would be fun to watch, it would also be extremely problematic in terms of the standard of the game, and also the potential spike in ruptured saline bags which would then have to be covered by Obama's healthcare plan, because after all, government officials are more appreciative of saline implants than anyone, it seems.
But I'm digressing. As usual.
In terms of facilities, Sahlen's Sports Park is one of the best you will ever play at. It's better than any in England. It's shiny and new and perfect and pristine and absolutely wonderful. They put a lot of money and effort into this and it's remarkable and miraculous. It's why everyone drives out here, halfway to freaking Olean, to play soccer here. Literally.
However there are issues.
Firstly, the management. I know one of the kids who works here and he's a really awesome kid and I like him. And one of the guys in the shop is really nice too. But in terms of management, there are issues. Whenever there has been a problem, they have been less than receptive. My friend got an extremely bad injury playing at Sahlen's, and they had absolutely no way of getting him off the field. No cart, no stretcher, nobody even came across to help him out of there, we had to MacGyver up a splint and carry him out. It was awful. We couldn't believe the lack of assistance from Sahlen's, and all they wanted to talk about was insurance papers and liability and signing a report while the guy was crying in pain. Atrocious.
And then this sort of "we don't care" attitude extends to the refs and to the teams too. There are some players in American sports (or any sports) that will just go out to try and injure you, to try and cripple you even. I know some of them. I am good at soccer and I play striker and I score goals, so I am a target. And in most places, you would hope that the referees and the rules of the sports center protect you from these vicious thugs. But not at Sahlen's. I was purposefully taken out after scoring 2 goals late in a game to put us 2-1 up. They snapped my ankle and I was out for 6 months and it still hurts. As I lay writhing in pain on the pitch, one of them kicked the ball at me, and they carried on playing. The ball hit me again. My team asked them to stop, the ref said "they don't have to" and laughed. I crawled off the field. No stretcher came. I had to be carried out of the center by 2 team mates.
The people that did it, did not receive a red card from the ref. They laughed at me. Nobody apologized. They high-fived because if you can't beat them on the field, injure them seriously, it's the next best thing. They laughed and congratulated each other. One of them said "he got what he deserved". I reported it to the center, nothing ever happened.
This isn't an isolated incident. It's happened to friends too. It's what happens at Sahlen's because the management just doesn't care, and so the thugs can get away with whatever they want to.
The refs at Epic Center for example, are way less lenient, they won't let anyone hurt anyone. They might not be professional, but they care. The refs here are often kids, that don't really give a crap, and that comes down from the management. You're more likely to get a severe injury here and they're not going to lift a finger to help you other than trying to get you to sign some papers.
Having said that it is clearly the best facility in WNY if not USA in terms of modernity and even though it's way out in the middle of nowhere, all the cool kids from the area go here to play. The standard is significantly higher than at any other regional facility. I'd choose it over Sportsplex every time because Sportsplex looks like a war zone. But Epic, which is a happy medium, actually cares about the welfare of its players, and safety comes first, which is why I will always choose Epic.
Edit: if they get some stretchers and start clamping down on people intentionally severely injuring people, which does happen worryingly regularly here... then I will raise them up to a 4 or more. read more
