Fall youth sports begin

BY COREY GESFORD

Correspondent

Not only are the Varsity and JV kids beginning their seasons, the youth leagues around Susquehanna County have begun as well.

The Mountain View Youth Soccer club is the longest local running youth soccer organization with over 25 years of participation. The program competes in the Northeastern Pennsylvania Soccer Association for Youth (NEPSAY) against programs based in Forest City, Carbondale, Valley Youth (Valley View School District Area), Lakeland, Western Wayne, Honesdale, Wallenpaupack, Tunkhannock, Lackawanna Trail, and Scranton programs.

Club president Travis MacDonald says there are approximately 125 participants in the program with hosts two teams each in the Under 12, Under 10, and Under 8 division, plus a U6 program that does not compete in a league structure.

“We emphasize that we want everyone to have fun,” said MacDonald. “If the kids enjoy it they are going to keep coming back.”

MacDonald also stated that the program’s success can be attributed in the consistency of the coaching and the link between the program and the High School program. Often the MVSAY program’s games are officiated by members of the boys and girls Varsity and Junior High team members.

Blue Ridge

Youth Soccer

The Blue Ridge soccer league is an open soccer league sanctioned by NEPSAY. While a majority of the participants are in the Blue Ridge, Susquehanna, and Montrose school districts the league is open to anyone in the area.

According to League President Rachel Stahl the league has over 360 athletes playing in ages from four through 11 broken down into division of U6, U8, U10, and U12. With the number of players teams were broken down by school district this year.

The league hosts all their games at one site. Previously the league played their games at Blue Ridge High School but with the decision for the Blue Ridge Triplets football program to merge with Susquehanna, the league moved its game Saturdays to Blue Ridge Park on Church St., New Milford. Games for the younger levels are generally played from 8-11am with the older levels following usually concluding around 3:30pm.

“It’s a long day for some us,” Stahl said while laughing. “But we get through, and it’s just a good opportunity for local kids to play a great game.

Along with the borough, Stahl said the Blue Ridge School District has helped in the transition to the new field. The district uses the same location for its high school baseball program.

“It’s been a nice set up for us this year, and the school has been great with showing us how to maintain and line the fields,” said Stahl. “Matt Button (Blue Ridge Superintendent) had the maintenance staff work with us.”

Coaches are all volunteers, most being parents of players on the team, and officials for games are generally junior varsity and varsity soccer players.

Choconut Valley Youth Athletic Assoc.

The Choconut Valley Youth Athletic Association also supports a youth soccer program and according to Program President Mindy Conning has about 85 participants in ages pre-kindergarten to sixth grade. The program doesn’t compete in sanctioned league but does have scrimmages within the different age groups and conducts practices twice a week.

Junior Football

While soccer is quickly becoming one of the most participated sports locally by youth, some can’t think of autumn without the sights and sounds of youth football.

The Montrose Junior Football is one of two youth football programs in the county. While most of the participants are from the Montrose school district, participants also come from the Elk Lake, Mountain View, and Blue Ridge districts.

The program participates in the Southern Tier Youth Football Conference with teams based out of the Greater Binghamton area plus Susquehanna. Currently, the program has teams in A (ages 11-12), B (ages 9-10), and C (ages 6-8) levels with over 53 players participating, according to Board Treasurer Tracie McCombs. 

The teams play a seven game season with an opportunity earn more game with playoffs.

“Last year the A team won the (STYFC) Superbowl for the first time in program history,” said McComb.

McComb said the program has also seen great support from the high school team as Head Coach Steve Miller and his staff and players hosted a free football clinic for the MJF. “We had about 35 kids attend and they just loved it,” she said.

Miller said it was a great opportunity to not only teach the kids some football techniques but to build that bridge between the programs.

“We (coaching staff) supervised, but our varsity and freshman players did most of the coaching,” said Miller. “They practice right next to us, and after we’re done you often see the older guys stop by and encourage the younger kids.”

The Susquehanna Junior Sabers are also part of the STYFC and this year merged with the Blue Ridge Triplets program that was based in New Milford.

“It didn’t change our numbers drastically,” said President Paul Rooney “But going forward it’s going to be good for our high school program to all be on the same page.”

Rooney stated that, including the cheerleading program, the Junior Sabers have close to 120 participants with more than 65 being football players. They offer teams at the A, B, and C levels of the league plus they added a Flag Football group for ages 5-6 that is a subdivision of the STYFC.

All the programs face the task of financially supporting their programs to address the costs of uniforms, equipment, and maintenance.  Every program charges a registration fee and the costs can range from $25 (CVYAA soccer) to $110 (Montrose Junior Football) with the other programs falling somewhere in between that range and most have discounts for families with multiple participants.

While MVSAY and CVYAA rely mainly on their fee, the other programs try to offset costs with fundraisers and profits earned from their concessions stands.

Miller arranged for Montrose Junior Football to have four tickets for an NFL game in Buffalo that the program is raffling chances for; while Rooney said the Junior Sabers use a raffle tied to the Pennsylvania Lottery’s Daily number.