Friona Youth Sports Celebrates First Year
“Saturday wrapped up the first year for the Friona Youth Sports Program. Even though we didn’t get to complete a full double elimination tournament to wrap up the 5 week flag football season, the football kids enjoyed the final games in the single elimination tournament. Volleyball also wrapped up its 5 week season in which each team played two games every week! Thanks to donations from Cargill, Lowe’s, Hi-Pro Feeds, Dairy Max, Republic Services and Vazquez Builders, the staff at FYS was able to serve the participants and the families free hamburgers to wrap up the seasons.
FYS started in November 2018. The vision was to bring sports to the youth in grades PK - 6th who would otherwise not be able to participate in out of town leagues. The first basketball season for grades K-6 boys and girls launched in February of 2019. There were a total of 170 basketball participants. All participants had to go through an evaluation to be placed on a team. Each Saturday, teams would practice before games then head on to play.
In June 2019, FYS ran a 4 week soccer league with 105 girl and boy participants. The co-ed league allowed kids to stay activate for most of the summer.
Finally in September of 2019, FYS opened up registration for girls volleyball PK-6 and boys football. 65 girls participated while 127 football boys participated from Friona, Lazbuddie, and Bovina.
All of this would have never been possible without the donations from our business sponsors and the EDC.
We would like to thank all of the volunteers, parents, and kids who helped and participated. Also, we would like to thank EG Photography for taking care of all of the team and individual pictures for all 4 sports.
This program has not only allowed kids to stay active throughout the year, but has also provided side jobs for high school and college kids as referees.
The board at FYS knows that after the first year of implementing the sports, there will be many more to come. We hope that this will fill the gap our kids are missing as they get into competitive play starting in the 7th grade. We will soon begin our 2020 donation campaign. If you or your business would like to help support FYS with monetary donations, equipment donations, or volunteer time please let one of our board members know.
Thank You!
Friona Youth Sports Board Members,
Back Row: Jason Rector (Member), Heather Grimsley (Vice-President), Chance Lewellen (President), Yvette Williams (Secretary) Front Row: Serafin Vazquez (Member), Daniel Vazquez (Member), JoAnn Padilla (Member), Cindy Moreno (Treasurer) Not Pictured: Maria Garcia (Member)
