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In Focus: Caring for Kidsports

Head caretaker Brady Pelc prepares for a busy holiday weekend at the Kidsport Complex

By Greg Lindstrom
Brady Pelc, head caretaker at the Kidsports Complex in Kalispell, tends to a baseball field. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

For most people, the Fourth of July weekend means fireworks, barbecues and baseball tournaments.

But for Brady Pelc, head caretaker of the Kidsports Complex in Kalispell, it means grooming and maintaining 19 ball fields for one of the largest tournaments of the summer.

Pelc started working at Kidsports in 2007 for the City of Kalispell Parks and Recreation department. During the busy summer months, when an average of 5,350 people use the fields daily during the week and another 5,000 on the weekend, Pelc and four other staff members work full time to maintain the 138-acre facility, which has a total of 31 fields and is one of the largest sports complexes in the region.

“It takes a lot of work but I think it definitely pays off when you come up here on a weekend and see so many kids having a good time,” Pelc said. “And to be able to host the larger tournaments is good for our community and good for the economy.”

Brady Pelc, head caretaker at the Kidsports Complex in Kalispell, tends to a baseball field. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon
Brady Pelc, head caretaker at the Kidsports Complex in Kalispell, tends to a baseball field. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

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