November 30, 2024
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Following population increase, Yorkville’s parks and rec athletic leagues continue expanding

High participation rates fuel need for more volunteer coaches

By Joey Weslo
The Yorkville Parks Department’s soccer youth leagues experienced the greatest participation increase over last year’s figures. Pictured, a kindergarten player attempts to sneak a ball past the goalie at Bristol Bay Park in Yorkville.

The Yorkville Parks Department’s soccer youth leagues experienced the greatest participation increase of any sport over last year’s figures. Pictured, a kindergarten player attempts to sneak a ball past the goalie at Bristol Bay Park in Yorkville. (Provided by the Yorkville Parks and Recreation Dep.)

As the Yorkville community continues seeing diverse expansion in its population, the boom reflects in the growth of the parks department’s athletic leagues.

With the fall recreation leagues now finished, winter beginning, and spring sports on the horizon, Recreation Manager Jake Galauner said it’s tremendous seeing the participation of kids continue to increase year after year.

“Yorkville is continuing to grow, and with more businesses coming to town, more families and kids come looking to participate,” Galauner said. “We still try to keep our roots and maintain a more family-oriented town. Whether it’s the major events, like live music, where you can meet our staff, or our athletic leagues, everything is promoting a great sense of community.”

Galauner said the youth soccer leagues is where they continue seeing the largest participation explosion. He said the youth fall soccer leagues increased more than 6% from last year, from 600 to 640 kids.

“It’s exciting to see the growth every year,” Galauner said. “When I first started running soccer six years ago, we were around 300 kids, so soccer continues being one of the larger things in the community that continues to grow. Between our soccer, baseball, and softball leagues the past season, over 1,150 kids participated. People don’t realize just how big our leagues are and how many staff members and volunteers it takes to run those leagues.”

Galauner said with that many people participating, they often have to get creative with scheduling all the leagues to make sure they maximize practice and playing time for everyone. For baseball and softball, there are 16 fields throughout the city, with last season’s 430 kids playing five to six days a week.

The Yorkville Parks Department said they are looking to continue expanding softball opportunities in their athletic leagues. Pictured, the 3rd/4th Division Spring Softball League competes in Beecher Park in 2023.

The Yorkville Parks Department said they are looking to continue expanding softball opportunities in their athletic leagues. Pictured, the 3rd/4th Division Spring Softball League competes in Beecher Park in 2023. (Provided by the Yorkville Parks and Recreation Dep.)

“One of the biggest challenges we face, as do most park districts, is having enough people wanting to dedicate their time to volunteer and coach the kids in the community,” Galauner said. “We are looking at how we can incentivize our coaching programs to help attract more volunteers and bring more coaches through the door. We also have our current coaches provide us evaluations to help us get a sense of how we can improve and continue strengthening our leagues going forward.”

Galauner said the continued expansion in athletics means the department receives a greater increase in participation fees and concession stand revenues that can be used to continue making facilities and parks upgrades. That includes everything from newer equipment and sports gear to extra goals and expanded fields.

The extra funds also enable the department to expand upon athletic offerings for adults and for high-schoolers.

Over the fall season, the adult men’s softball league and adult kickball league saw an increase of 75 participants and five extra teams. The pickleball courts experienced so much use, Galuaner said they want to expand to create an official pickleball program.

He said he also wants to expand this upcoming spring season’s opportunities for both adult soccer leagues and broader soccer and softball leagues for high-schoolers.

Galauner said over the winter, youth leagues continue within school district buildings until it’s time to hit the fields again come warmer weather.

“We rely on the school district for things like our basketball league,” Galauner said. “That’s been a really great partnership with the school district to help keep that continuing. It’s great to see already 325 boys, from first to eighth grade, signed up for their season which runs from January to March. While the boys and girls continue playing inside, our parks team are behind the scenes working on planning the upcoming outdoor events and leagues that start up again in spring.”

The girls winter league began in October and runs through the middle of December, with 170 girls participating, continuing the trend of increasing figures year after year.

Galauner said he can’t wait for next year to bring even larger participation numbers in the athletic leagues.

“I’ve been working here for seven years and I’ve loved it, being out there on Saturdays for games, running into coaches and talking with parents I’ve known throughout the seasons,” Galauner said. “We do a great job of having everybody in the community gather for both live events and the athletic leagues. It’s been pretty fulfilling to experience that throughout the years.”