When Nevada Youth Sports got its flagship building last year, Jane Ramos said it was a big step for the group that offers sporting programs to more than 14,000 kids in the Las Vegas Valley.
But fire damage early Sunday morning, suspected to be rooted in illegal Fourth of July fireworks, has brought an uncertain immediate future to the center, said Ramos, the chief administrative officer of Nevada Youth Sports.
A large hole now exists in the facility’s 40-foot ceiling, and the courts below it were damaged by embers and fallen debris. The center’s sports equipment, including nets and balls, was also damaged, Ramos said.
“It looked like a meteor fell,” Ramos said of the roof damage. “It was just very surreal.”
The property, located near South Buffalo Drive and West Sunset Road in the southwest valley, is currently closed because of the damage. Ramos said reopening could occur anywhere between a week and months in the future, depending on a structural engineer’s assessment of the roof.
“If it’s unsafe and we just cannot be inside the gym … they’re anticipating three to four months” until reopening, Ramos said. “If it is deemed that there’s only a certain unsafe area, then we can block it off and use the safe area. That might mean we can open next week.”
The Clark County Fire Department said property damage is estimated to exceed more than $250,000. Ramos, in the early stages of determining the extent of the damages, said she expected repairs to cost much more.
“We invested more than $350,000 in the floors when we had that built,” Ramos said. “And we’re not even sure about the A/C units that we put in there.”
Games in need of new home
Ramos said the Nevada Youth Sports Center offered programs for youth volleyball, pickleball, basketball, flag football and futsal, a scaled-down, five-versus-five version of soccer.
Staff are now scrambling to find court spaces for the young athletes to play their games, Ramos said. About 125 games are expected to be played this coming weekend, she added.
“The cost of repair and this rebuild is absolutely important, but our immediate priority right now is really allocating any resource that we can to getting the kids to play their games and not miss out and just complete their season,” Ramos said. “It’s not easy to avail of court space. (It’s a) huge reason why we did put this facility up.”
In the meantime, Ramos said community members and organizations have offered support to help Nevada Youth Sports recover from the fire. Despite staff’s efforts to inform families of the damage, she said, some still showed up to the facility on Sunday to offer help.
However, Ramos added that Nevada Youth Sports will not accept community donations until they know what parts of their rebuilding efforts need the most help.
“We want to make sure that we stay very intentional and transparent with the community,” Ramos said. “We want to make sure that we’re doing it right, knowing exactly what we’re going to be needing, and we’re just not there yet.”
Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.
