Per the terms of our user permit, we are required to provide the City of Albuquerque parks and rec department a list of our teams and the locations and days of the week on which they practice.  Here's an important update:  APS is somewhat reinterpreting the joint agreement with the City on the use of elementary and middle school fields by the city, meaning us.  They are now claiming that only means the fields that the city built on school property, like at Grant Mid School and Desert Ridge Mid School.  APS has fairly well barred entry to parking lots and school property at a lot of fields now.  So plan accordingly .  If your team elects to hold practice during the week using a city park or an APS school field (elementary and middle schools only) then we need to include you on the list of teams we submit to the city.  If you wish to practice on an APS high school field, that's something you need to directly arrange with the school.  That's not covered under our user permit with the city.  Your players are covered for injuries sustained during practice if we have you on the practice field list. 

You choose where you wish to practice.  We do not assign you a location.  We share the parks with other recreational organizations, such as youth soccer, baseball, kickball and youth football.  At ls count there were 35 different organizations requesting use of grass fields from the city.  That's a lot.  If you are practicing in another city (Rio Rancho, Bernalillo), on a county field, or UNM or a high school field, none of those fall under this arrangement.  We need you to provide us the information so we know your team practices for purposes of insurance coverage but it will not involve the city parks department.  High school facilities do not fall under the joint powers agreement between the city and APS, so the city won’t be tracking those.  If you’re practicing at a high school field, you need to make the arrangements with that administration at that high school.  Another FYI, the turf fields at the APS high schools are not available at all for public use. 

This link will take you to the listing of all city parks in case you know where the park is but don’t know its name.

https://www.cabq.gov/parksandrecreation/parks/city-parks

"Practice" does not mean "full field scrimmage."  It means using a small amount of space for drills and you may have enough for a small sided scrimmage with cones.  Therefore, please do not send us an e-mail advising us that someone is encroaching on your private practice field that has a sign denoting it as a city park.  Your team can practice at any city park or elementary or middle school you choose.  However, other teams are under the same standard, so if 25 teams show up at Academy Hills to practice, it’s going to very crowded. 

If a city parks employee comes by and asks for your team name, you need to provide that person your team name.  If you are at a location that you are not scheduled to use,  you will be asked to pack up and leave.  As you merely need to give us the location and days of your practice, that isn’t much of a burden to get on the list we give the city.

Important general information from the parks and rec department:

• They have a manager on duty 7 days a week.  The phone number for that person is 505-224-6682.
• It is the responsibility of the team to maintain order with such things as parking and trash pickup.  There is no magic trash fairy that comes at night and picks up the water bottles and dirty socks you left at the field.  
• Practice does not mean full field scrimmage.
• If there's a problem with the field you're at (sprinkler malfunction, holes, something in need of repair) call 311.  That really is the best way to get it to the right people.
• If you've got a problem with sprinklers being on when reasonably they shouldn't be, call the city at 505-382-5926 and leave a message if there's no answer.  If it's an APS field, call them at 505-975-0077.  The city has built fields on school property so they are still a city field if the have the standard wooden sign with the field name, so call the city if you're got a problem on those fields, such as the baseball fields at Grant MS.