The Town & Country Optimist Club began offering youth sports in 1974, with the first baseball registrations conducted out of the back of a station wagon on a borrowed empty lot along Research Boulevard. The original group purchased 14 acres of land next to Forest North Elementary School, and eventually the initial 40 acres at the current location on Meadowheath Drive. Subsequent purchases resulted in what is now 95 acres and 30 playing fields with parking areas serving Morris Road, Briarwick Drive and Meadowheath Drive.
The Optimist parents in those early years did literally every task to put on the sports leagues – laying out the fields, digging and installing irrigation, seeding, mowing, running concessions (Frito Pie the all-time best seller), as well as organizing the sports leagues and coaching the teams.
Today’s campus is the result of almost fifty years of volunteers doing their best to give kids a wonderful sports experience. The five sports played on campus (soccer, baseball, softball, football and lacrosse), and the two sports played in local school gyms (basketball and volleyball), are still strongly supported by hundreds of volunteers.
As the sports programs and campus grew, T&C added a professional groundskeeping and maintenance staff to ensure a safe and high quality facility. Rye grass is seeded every fall to ensure excellent playing fields in the spring, with Bermuda grass replacing the rye as temperatures rise and play continues through the fall. Although Mother Nature is a big factor in field conditions at any one moment, T&C’s fields are generally among the best grass fields for youth sports in the Austin area.
Running through the middle of the campus is a Williamson County owned walking trail connecting neighborhoods from the 620/45 area with those in the Anderson Mill/Parmer area. The trail is open to the public during the day. T&C, however, is a private facility on either side of the trail and we ask that the public respect our efforts to support youth sports as safely as we can. We don’t allow pets, alcohol, drugs, weapons, or abusive behavior on campus at any time.
Also on campus is a jewel called the Miracle League at Town & Country, a state of the art field especially designed and constructed for special needs kids to play baseball. Kids come from all over the Austin area to experience the thrill of playing the game.
In addition, T&C has facilities for restrooms, concessions, equipment storage, an office (the blue building), and lighting to allow play on most fields into the evening (and off by 10pm). On top of some of the buildings are sensors and sirens for our Thor Guard lightning prediction system. It constantly monitors the static electricity charges in the atmosphere around the campus for potential lightning strikes. If the sirens sound, everyone should immediately go to their cars (the safest places in the event of a strike) until the all-clear sounds.
We always welcome feedback on how to improve our campus. Please contact the office with any questions or concerns. We hope you enjoy your time at T&C.
