Dear YMCA Families,
We want to share an important update about our youth sports programming this fall, including why this decision is being made so close to the start of the season and what it means for the future of youth sports at the Y.
First and foremost, the Y remains deeply committed to youth sports. We believe sports can play an important role in helping young people build skills, confidence, friendships, healthy habits, teamwork, and a lifelong connection to physical activity.
We also recognize that this update comes later than families would expect or that we would want. We know families make plans around sports seasons, and we are sorry for the disruption this timing may cause.
Our fall sports program has historically required two staff members to effectively lead and operate the season. We recently experienced a staffing change that left us with only one person in this area. Hiring, onboarding, and training another qualified staff member takes time, and we determined that we could not responsibly operate our traditional fall leagues this season with our current staffing capacity.
At the same time, two other pieces of information have helped inform what we do next.
Enrollment in our traditional fall leagues has been declining and has sometimes required us to combine multiple grade levels to create enough teams for league play. And, just this week, we received results from a community survey asking families what they want from youth sports and recreation. The feedback pointed toward a strong interest in experiences that are social, engaging, skill-building, recreational, and—above all—fun for kids.
Together, these circumstances require us to make a change for this fall. The Y will pause our traditional fall basketball and soccer leagues this season.
We want to be clear about what this means—and what it does not mean.
We are not pulling back from youth sports. We are pausing a low-enrollment season at a moment when we do not have the staffing needed to operate it well, and using that time to build toward a stronger vision for Y youth sports.
This pause gives us an opportunity to thoughtfully reimagine both our youth sports programming and the leadership structure needed to support it. Rather than simply filling the position we had and recreating the same program, we want to ask a bigger question: What should Y youth sports look like to best serve kids and families in our community today? How do we engage the majority of youth in our community in some kind of physical activity?
The survey feedback gives us an exciting starting point. Only 23 percent of the community is seeking competitive leagues, but we know that 100 percent of our youth need opportunities to move their bodies, try different physical activities, build fundamental skills that set them up for a lifetime of activity, make friends, gain confidence, and experience the joy of being active.
That work begins this fall. Families can look forward to expanded Itty Bitty Sports, along with Ninja classes, sport-specific clinics, dodgeball, pickleball, open gym, and other recreational and family-friendly activities. Additional program details will be available on our website as soon as available.
We also know that some families were counting on the Y for traditional team and league experiences this fall, and we want to help those children continue playing.
We have connected with KIDSPORTS, a longtime Eugene-area youth sports organization, about this transition. Their programs share many of the youth-development goals we value at the Y, including skill development, teamwork, sportsmanship, recreation, and positive experiences through sport. KIDSPORTS has agreed to work with us and extend its fall registration to accommodate families who had planned to participate in Y fall leagues.
We recognize that KIDSPORTS programming does not perfectly mirror the Y's traditional fall offerings: there will be a gap in fall basketball and Pleasant Hill/Creswell soccer. We hope to partly fill the gap in Pleasant Hill & Creswell through the expansion of our afterschool programming to Pleasant Hill Elementary, which will open up new opportunities for youth activity opportunities aligned with the school.
We are grateful for our strong partnership with KIDSPORTS, whose willingness to work with us helps ensure that young people in our community continue to have access to team sports this fall.
As we look beyond this season, our commitment is not simply to bring youth sports back—it is to build a stronger, more engaging and sustainable youth sports program that reflects what youth and families are telling us they need.
We will use the coming months to evaluate the leadership and staffing structure for youth sports, learn from families and participants, and develop programming that balances skill development, recreation, social connection, fun, and opportunities for children to grow through sports.
And we want you to be part of that process. If you have ideas about the youth sports and recreation opportunities you would like to see at the Y and provided through the Y, please take a few minutes to complete the feedback form below. Your input will help shape what comes next.
We know a change this close to the season is difficult, and we appreciate your understanding as we navigate an unexpected staffing transition while working toward something stronger for the future.
The Y is committed to youth sports, and we are excited about the opportunity to build the next chapter of youth sports at the Y together.
Thank you for being part of our Y community and for helping us create opportunities where every youth can learn, play, grow, and belong.
Warmly,
Rachel Jackson
Youth, Teen and Family Director
Eugene Family YMCA
