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Amid the chaos of COVID-19 pandemic, many Henrico youth sports organizations are struggling to keep themselves afloat while still providing safe and healthy ways for the county’s children to stay active.
The coronavirus outbreak has forced all leagues to postpone, and in some cases cancel, their seasons, although they collected most fees from players after they registered months ago.
The status of the Glen Allen Youth Athletic Association’s spring seasons is still up in the air, according to association president Sean Connor. The volunteer-run organization has almost 600 children registered for its baseball and softball spring seasons.
“Registration fees, which are typically $125 per child, are collected during the sign-up period that closed on Dec. 31,” Connor said. “We’ve already incurred quite a bit of expense from insurance, uniforms, game balls and so many other things.”
Connor said the nonprofit organization has been trying to find a way to minimize lost costs and still get the children out on the field, starting with allowing the registration fees to be rolled over to the next season for those who choose to do so.
“We know the pandemic is going to impact some families,” Connor said. “That $125 might be better spent going toward groceries for some people than saving a spot for next season, and we want to accommodate that as best we can. We also know some people are in a different situation and may be able to donate those funds to the organization, and we are really grateful for that.”
Smaller organizations are feeling the financial impact of the pandemic more. Chris McCook, vice president of Lakeside Youth Baseball, said that league’s $100 player fees had been collected and mostly spent on uniforms and equipment for the upcoming season.
“We’re a nonprofit, so what we bring in is what it takes to run the league for the season,” McCook said. “If returns are given, we would lose thousands of dollars.”
For now, Lakeside Youth Baseball is postponed indefinitely.
Jimmy Gallagher, president of the newly-restored Highland Springs Little League Baseball & Softball Association – which has been planning its return season, after a five-year absence – echoed McCook.
“Our registration fees are $50 per child, and total refunds would hurt our organization,” Gallagher said. “But I have faith we’re going to play, even if it’s not until June or July.
“We’re just on an indefinite rain delay.”
Connor, McCook and Gallagher all expressed gratitude to the sponsors of their organizations, as the small businesses’ donations are helping offset costs during this time.
But for Glen Lea Youth Baseball, a league of about 60 children, sponsor donations are not an option.
“I’m still trying to get the 501(c) [nonprofit] number to accept sponsorships, so we run solely off the player fees and our fundraising efforts,” said Nicole Deyo, league administrator. “We’ve ordered uniforms and equipment and paid insurance from the player fees,” making total refunding impractical.
“We’ve been talking about offering the fees to roll over to the next baseball and softball season or to a basketball league we’re trying to start up,” Deyo said.
While all of these baseball associations are on hold for now, officials from each organization expressed hope and optimism about eventually getting their athletes back on the field.
“Baseball is a constant, and I know we’ll get back out there,” Connor said. “We’ll see kids having fun with smiling faces and dirty uniforms and snow cones dripping down their arms very, very soon.”
i9 Sports cancels all seasons
For at least one youth sports organization, postponing the season was not an option.
i9 Sports, a league composed of about 650 kids offering basketball, flag football, soccer, t-ball and zip lacrosse during the spring season, has been completely cancelled, said Antwain Salvatto, area developer for i9 Sports for Hanover and Henrico counties.
When Gov. Ralph Northam announced the closure of Virginia’s public schools for the rest of the school year, i9 Sports had to be cancelled too, because it uses school facilities to run programs, Salvatto said.
“But, up until the point of cancellation, we had to proceed as if we were going to have the program and continue with hiring, training, buying equipment and jerseys,” Salvatto said. “In the event that we were able to play, we wanted to be prepared, but that came at a cost.”
Now that the season has been cancelled, Salvatto said all funds had been rolled over to the next season and there had been an additional $25 credit for a future season issued to each participant.
The cancelation also hurt employees in addition to players, Salvatto said. “We have between 15 and 20 part time employees,” he said. “We don’t have any work for them right now, so they aren’t getting paid because we’re so limited in resources.”
Like other organizations, i9 Sports faces a lingering financial impact from the virus. “Because of the credits from this missed season, there will be limited revenue coming in to run the fall season. We’ll make it happen, but it won’t be easy,” Salvatto said.
Jefferson Cup postponement has economic, athletic consequences
The financial loss from COVID-19 also hit the Richmond Strikers soccer club especially hard, as it had to postpone most of its annual Jefferson Cup tournament, said Jay Howell, executive director.
The event is a four-weekend tournament held every March and has become one of the premier youth tournaments in the nation; this year, more than 1,400 teams were scheduled to play, Howell said.
“We have figured out through a study done by VCU that our general economic impact [the grand total of everything associated with the tournament] is about $25 million,” Howell said. “This includes team fees, team travel and accommodations, food, and activities done during free time. When we had to start shutting down the Jefferson Cup, it was a big deal for everyone involved.”
The first weekend of the tournament took place as scheduled, but the remaining three weekends have been pushed back to July and early August, Howell said.
In addition to the economic impact, postponing the tournament affects the athletes substantially, Howell said.
“The older boys and girls have showcases, which are really significant at the national level,” Howell said. “Some of the best players in the country are at the tournament, so we normally have somewhere between 500 and 600 college coaches here for recruiting.
“Hopefully, we’ll all be able to work through this crisis quickly in a healthy way. When we do come out of this, there’s going to be a great need to provide activities. We wanted to be ahead of the curve; if we can’t do it now, we needed to find the earliest time to give the kids this opportunity to get out there and play.”
YMCA helping keep young athletes in shape
Other organizations in the area are also trying to give kids things to look forward to at the conclusion of social distancing, as well as alternative activities for the time being in place of sports leagues.
The YCMAs of the greater Richmond area have been sending out bi-weekly emails with detailed instructions on how to practice a child’s chosen sport each day, said Caitlin Wampler, association sports director for the YMCA of Greater Richmond.
Across the 13 YMCAs Wampler oversees, there are close to 5,000 kids who play soccer, flag football, dance, gymnastics, volleyball, basketball and cross country during the spring season, she said.
“Our spring season is postponed, not cancelled, so we’ve been contacting our participants to tell them we’re here to step in and fill a gap,” Wampler said. “While they’re home, we want them to help them stay healthy and active.”
Wampler said she, as a parent, wants the same thing for her own children as so many other parents do for their children.
“I want my kids to be able to be a part of something again,” Wampler said. “I’m excited, and I think other people are going to be too, to see the kids back out there, playing and having fun, soon.”
