From Weed Patch to World-Class Soccer Venue : Oxnard: Community project culminates Thursday with dedication. Team from Cameroon will use facility as practice site.

Six acres at Oxnard College that once boasted wildflowers and mustard plants will be dedicated Thursday as Ventura County’s premier soccer venue, a patch of ground that later this month will host a World Cup contender.

Soccer goals borrowed from Moorpark College are to be installed today, and the end lines and other markings will be painted onto the newly laid Bermuda sod later this week.

It has been a months-long community project fusing thousands of hours of volunteerism with the limited resources of the city and the college.

But it will pay off Tuesday when the team from the African nation of Cameroon arrives to begin practicing for the world’s most popular sporting event, the soccer tournament that pits the best 24 teams in the world against each other.

Sniffing around for Southern California practice fields, World Cup officials approached Oxnard leaders last year about turning the weed patch behind the college’s gymnasium into a world-class training site.

“Oxnard is a unique story because at the time we visited the facility, they didn’t have a field at all,” said Frank Rojas, the competition director of World Cup Los Angeles.

The facility “is going to be a tremendous legacy for the college and all the soccer players in Ventura County,” he said.

When the campus was chosen as a practice site earlier this year, college officials said they would need help from the soccer community and a one-time, $20,000 grant from the Oxnard City Council to finish the fields in time for training.

Organizers borrowed tractors and a land plane to level the ground, installed an irrigation system, sped construction of the $4-million gymnasium and mobilized hundreds of volunteers to complete the project.

“It was just a patch of ground behind our gym,” college spokeswoman Cathy Garnica said. “They had to completely level the area where the soccer fields are and put in a layer of mulch and mushroom compost.

“People just gave us their best possible materials and services to make it all possible because they really believed they could make Oxnard shine,” Garnica said.

Garnica said the improvements would have cost more than $165,000 without the donated time and materials.

Oxnard College Coach Jorge Brescia, himself a former professional soccer player in Argentina, said the new fields would far outlive the two weeks they will be used by the Cameroon team.

“We’re going to have more people wanting to play soccer here because we have better facilities,” said Brescia, whose teams until now have played on the football field.

“It’s like a carpet, it’s so incredible,” Brescia said of the new fields. “If you cannot play good soccer there, it’s because you are not a good soccer player.”

Mayor Manuel M. Lopez, who will be on hand at Thursday’s 5:45 p.m. dedication, said hosting the team from Cameroon will boost the local economy by bringing tourist dollars to the city.

“They should give us some good, positive publicity,” Lopez said. “The fact that the World Cup is such a worldwide event should help, too.”

But according to Rojas, the practices may be held behind closed doors. “It’s up to the coach on how he wants to handle that,” he said.

Cameroon is a French-speaking country of about 10 million people situated on the western coast of Africa. Its 1990 World Cup team made it to the quarter-finals before losing to England.

“They really captivated the hearts of the world,” Rojas said of the 1990 team. “They played a very colorful game and they stunned the world when they beat Argentina.”

The 1994 team will practice daily at Oxnard College through June 19, when it opens against Sweden at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

At Soccer Plus in Ventura, Jon Hopkins is selling T-shirts touting the Cameroon team for $14.95.

“A lot of people are interested in buying them so they can take them down and have them signed,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins said both his employees and customers are excited about the World Cup, which begins officially June 17.

“I have people coming in all the time saying they just got tickets,” Hopkins said. “They can’t wait for it to start.

“I got mine to see Cameroon play Sweden,” he added. “I’m going to be down there dancing with all the Cameroonians.”

FYI

The two new soccer fields at Oxnard College will be officially dedicated Thursday at a 5:45 p.m. ceremony at the campus. The World Cup soccer team from the African nation of Cameroon is scheduled to arrive Tuesday and practice daily through June 19. The team will begin tournament play against Sweden in a game to be held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.