By Matt de Simone
Booster club members from Greenfield, Blue Ridge, Cloverdale, Cloverdale, Buchanan all in attendance
The booster clubs have taken it upon themselves to create a Botetourt Youth Sports Club (BYS).
Greenfield Booster Club President James Garner and fellow county booster club representatives spoke with county representatives about their plan. The new club would offer this year’s spring sports in a combination of Botetourt Youth Sports’ private entity with participation from Botetourt County fields.
The booster clubs are, as Garner mentioned, essentially “reinventing the wheel.”
Garner explained that all of the county booster clubs are in the process of making administrative decisions, performing background checks, hiring umpires, and booking the fields. In the past, booster clubs weren’t responsible for logistical preparations for a sports season. Due to the COVID regulations set by the county, the booster clubs felt the need to act, he said.
“It’s very important to everyone to get these 600 kids on the field,” Garner said. “With the county’s support behind us, we’re looking to get it accomplished this year.”
This season, the booster club plans to run their spring sports through Little League Baseball, a nonprofit organization based out of Williamsport, Pa., one of the foremost organizers of baseball and softball. The cost-effectiveness of the program is the main reason why county booster clubs are going with Little League. The charter will potentially cut costs in half for kids wanting to play baseball or softball this year.
QuickScores, an online sports scheduling app, is the platform the booster clubs plan to use for registration, schedules, and hiring their umpires for the upcoming spring season. Garner showed the committee what the booster clubs have already developed using the platform to give the committee an idea of what parents will see when they log into the website. The club would collect fees through PayPal.
The booster clubs will work with the Botetourt County Parks & Recreation Department to get fields ready for play. Garner also presented a design for the youth uniforms and the BYS logo featured on each jersey. Garner mentioned that all booster clubs offer the same price to play, which is different from past years.
To this point, the booster clubs have managed to work out details regarding the new club regarding registration and field availability. Now, the clubs work on the budget and the new Little League charter. There is also the pandemic issue and the rules the booster clubs must implement to pull off a spring sports season safely.
Right now, booster clubs are only allowing two adults with a child at spring games. The concern of the booster clubs and the committee can police the attendance at the games. One solution presented by Garner is funneling the season of play into the Botetourt Sports Complex at Greenfield. That way, there will be more control allowing one way into the facility and the option to close the gate once all teams and spectators have arrived.
Most of the games played at Greenfield also give the club an option to live stream games, which proved to be successful during the 2020 high school and middle school basketball seasons.
The committee applauded the booster clubs for everything they’ve accomplished in putting together a spring sports season and offered their continuous support. While the clubs continue to work on the budgetary and logistical details, there is still more to be done for spring sports to return to Botetourt County this year. For more information about the spring sports season, visit web.botetourtva.gov/recreation.
