March 20 meeting for new youth sports association

A nonprofit called Blaine Youth Sports is working toward organizing local youth athletics for grades 1–6, with a goal of making it easier – and possibly cheaper – for people to get involved in youth sports.

Organizers are holding an informational meeting for parents, coaches and community members at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20, at the Blaine High School Cafeteria and little theater. The meeting should last less than an hour and kids can come, said Jay Dodd, Blaine Youth Sports organizer and high school football coach.

Currently, the Boys and Girls Club of Ferndale runs many youth sports in Blaine.

“It’s not that the Ferndale Boys and Girls Club was doing a bad job in any way,” Dodd said. “I just think that if we started our own program we’d be able to make it more organized and more efficient for people in our town.”

A single organization dedicated to sports could also make participation cheaper by streamlining administrative duties, Dodd said.

The group is looking for people to help run a website, volunteers to lead and organize each sport, and volunteers for the board, which will include a president, vice president, treasurer and secretary.

Blaine Youth Sports started last fall and managed the Blaine youth football season, handling everything from signups and registration to scheduling field time, gym time and games. This winter, it absorbed the youth wrestling program.

This idea is new for Blaine, but not for Whatcom County. Lynden, Meridian and several other areas already have their own youth sports associations.

Blaine Youth Sports plans to use the Mt. Baker Youth Athletic Association as a template, since it serves a similar sized community. That group has a single website where parents can sign up for all youth athletics, make payments, receive schedules and other documents and learn about individual sports.

Dodd hopes to that by this fall, Blaine Youth Sports will be running the youth volleyball program, in addition to football.