When the school bell rings, thousands of kids across the Wasatch Back don’t just go home, they go mountain biking, skiing, fencing, skateboarding or even luging.
Through the Youth Sports Alliance and its after-school programs, Get Out and Play and Activ8, kids in Park City and the surrounding area are introduced to sports that may otherwise be out of reach.
This upcoming school year, the organization is expanding its impact to four schools in Salt Lake County — every one of them Title I schools, where a large percentage of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Title I schools are institutions that receive federal funding to help bridge opportunity gaps for kids from lower-income families. For the Youth Sports Alliance, it means building programs that are not only fun and structured, but also affordable. The organization offers discounts for all families enrolled in free or reduced lunch programs, but as it expands to these Salt Lake schools, it is also increasing its capacity for these kids from 25% to 50% of participants.
“In Title I schools, we’ll be doing scholarships for all families in free and reduced lunch programs,” said Heather Sims, programs director at the Youth Sports Alliance. “This will bring program costs down to about 25% of the original, and 50% of our program capacity will be for those kids.”
With programs launching at Park View Elementary, Mountain View Elementary, Edison Elementary and Glendale Middle School, the offerings are tailored to what’s available locally, with lift-served mountain biking at Solitude Mountain Resort, ski days at Brighton Ski Area and Woodward Park City, Nordic at Mountain Dell and skateboarding at the Utah Fairgrounds.
As with much of the YSA’s story, this new chapter started with Olympic dreams. When Executive Director Emily Fisher joined Salt Lake City’s mayor, Erin Mendenhall, in Paris last year for the 2034 Winter Games bid, the mayor pressed the need to bring these programs to the Wasatch Front.
Last year, more than 3,200 kids participated in after-school programs across the Wasatch Back, a 25% jump from the year prior and a huge leap from the 644 kids enrolled a decade ago.
The programs are separated by age group, with Get Out and Play catered to first through fifth graders and Activ8 made for middle and high schoolers.
Get Out and Play is about introducing elementary kids to new experiences. The program works in relatively short, four-week sessions that give kids a chance to try something new. Costs are kept low, subsidized through needs-based scholarships, and equipment is provided to anyone who doesn’t have it.
“They’re bite-size, so if a child doesn’t like them, it’s just four weeks,” Sims said.
Launched in 2016, Activ8 was designed to fill a gap in athletic engagement for middle schoolers. It offers middle and high schoolers everything from climbing to boxing to freestyle skiing, keeping them engaged at a time when many lose structured outlets.
“At the high school level, there are plenty of sports, and at elementary school, there are lots of programs,” Sims said. “But at that 11-14 age group, kids start dropping out of sports, and there just isn’t as much available.”
With a lower financial and time commitment, the flexibility of these programs means kids can explore multiple sports across the year. Transportation is provided to and from school, loading kids onto private buses with volunteer chaperones as soon as the final bell rings.
One of the biggest challenges the organization faces, Sims said, in addition to coordinating transport, is securing enough volunteers for each session.
“It is a consistent issue we face. With kids in these programs, parents, grandparents, everyone is working, or older siblings are looking after younger kids. We’re always looking for volunteer chaperones,” Sims said.
The volunteer program offers an incentive in which, for those who help out all four days of the four-week session, their child can then participate for free. Gear donations, financial support and volunteers are what drive the reach and success of every new program, Sims said, particularly as the Youth Sports Alliance continues to spread its impact across Utah.
“The parents and kids and the staff in Salt Lake were all so excited to have these opportunities. We’re adding fencing, boxing, and acting programs,” Sims said. “We’re working to provide one program at each school for the whole school year.”