OT - congrats to our local kids rec league

[Mark Padgett]

Our local kids rec league will be celebrating it's 30th anniversary this week. We were started in 1981 with a grant from the local Rotary club, and they subsidized the league for a few years. The motivation to start the organization was to reduce the cost to parents compared to what they had been paying for their kids to play in the other local rec league - at the YMCA. Apparently, it worked, since we're still here 30 years later. Our first year, we had about 200 kids in the program. Last season, we had just over 1000. We're financially sound and have great community support,plus all our Board members are volunteers. I'm starting my 19th year on the Board and I hope to be around for another 19 years.

[BillyMac]

The busier kids are, the less likely that they will have time to get into trouble, be it sports, theater, music, scouting, etc.

Keep up the good work.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

The busier kids are, the less likely that they will have time to get into trouble, be it sports, theater, music, scouting, etc.

That's one of the reasons we have a "scholarship" program that I administer. We have a fund that will pay the registration fees of kids from low-income families. It also can provide money to buy them gym shoes if they don't have any. We fund this program with donations, and we also have a "late fee" that people pay if they register after the cut-off date. All the late fees go into the scholarship fund. Last year, we gave out over 60 full scholarships. Even though we are not a "school" program, the councilors at our schools help those kids apply for the scholarships. We want every kid who wants to play to be able to play, especially "at risk" kids. We have kind of an "unofficial" motto - "Do sports, not drugs".

[grunewar]

Congrats Mark!

My one Rec League has been at it for over 40 yrs now. Ours certainly doesn't seem as organized as yours. I wish we had as many volunteers and Board Members in the gym as you seem to have on a routine basis.

But then again, we don't seem to have near as many T's and ejections as you either!

Thanks for the motivation to do more.

[JugglingReferee]

Awesome stuff Mark!

I remember seeing a poster that Nike commissioned years ago, and it was along the lines that Billy posted. It mentioned alcohol, drugs, teenage pregnancy, etc. And the skills learned playing sports are transferable to our professional adult lives. Every once in awhile, I google for that poster because its direction is timeless.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

Awesome stuff Mark!

I remember seeing a poster that Nike commissioned years ago, and it was along the lines that Billy posted. It mentioned alcohol, drugs, teenage pregnancy, etc. And the skills learned playing sports are transferable to our professional adult lives. Every once in awhile, I google for that poster because its direction is timeless.

Maybe they got the idea from our association? We've had a few kids of Nike employees in our league over the years. Our city is only about 3 miles from the "Nike World Campus", which is what they call their headquarters and there's a number of Nike employees who live here, including one guy just down the street from my house.