Youth sports registration soars, Celina Record

Local youth sports participation soars in Celina Lisa Ferguson, lferguson@starlocalmedia.com Jan 14, 2016 In a city as dedicated to football as Celina is, it’s no small feat to convince kids – or their parents, for that matter – to give other sports a chance. Yet somehow Jeff Davis is doing exactly that. Since beginning his work as the city’s assistant parks and recreation director three years ago, Davis has introduced new youth sports programs and leagues to the department’s offerings. In 2013, the first year youth basketball was offered, the city had 10 teams of kids in kindergarten through sixth grade. That number grew to 15 teams its second year. This season, set to wrap up in February, there are 23 teams in Celina that play regularly scheduled games at Fieldhouse USA in Frisco. Several other youth sports leagues offered through Celina Parks and Recreation are experiencing similar growth, which Davis credits in part to the area’s booming population. However, he and other staff members have also worked hard to spread the word that “the program here is changing. “Yes, we have more families moving into the area, but I know we’re seeing some families return to our leagues that had gone away and played somewhere else for some other organizations for a while,” such as in Prosper, Frisco and McKinney, explained Davis, who this season also serves as head coach for four of Celina’s youth basketball teams. Parents are giving Celina’s league another look because “it’s something where people are hearing about the fun (kids are) having, and that they’re learning something,” Davis said. “With basketball … it’s actually teaching them the game.” Registration for spring youth sports leagues is underway online at sports.celina-tx.gov. Youth soccer registration is scheduled to close Saturday; baseball and girls softball registration will end Tuesday. Davis said the city’s youth baseball program is also growing. By participating with the 380 Youth Sports Organization, Celina teams are able to play against teams from Gunter, Pilot Point, Little Elm and The Colony, as well as the communities of Providence and Savannah. In past years, Celina has typically had two teams in each baseball division offered during the spring, from tee-ball through 14U. That number doubled last year in tee-ball and 6U, and 8U had three teams. “That is just tremendous growth,” Davis said. Also in its third year, the city’s flag football program is wildly popular. The league last fall featured 41 teams of kids in kindergarten through sixth grade. They play at Old Celina Park against teams from Anna, Gunter, Howe, Pilot Point, Princeton and Van Alstyne. “Everybody comes out to Celina, which is a good central location for all of the teams,” Davis said. “It’s good for our teams because now they’re playing locally instead of traveling to a different town every week, which can be difficult sometimes.” He said he expects there will be close to 50 flag football teams that play in the league this fall. Moving “full speed ahead,” he said, is the city’s spring 7-on-7 football program, for which registration closes in February. Celina Parks and Recreation does not register or place individuals on 7-on-7 teams. Instead, teams of kids in grades 5-8 are formed according to school boundaries (no "select" teams are allowed) and the city registers the teams based on the players’ grade levels in school the following fall. The 7-on-7 league last year boasted 28 teams, including several teams from Frisco that wanted to play in Celina, Davis said, “because they know that this is a football town and the competition is going to be good.” He estimates that about 30 teams will play in the league this spring. Davis said he and Parks Director Cody Webb strive to keep “a finger on the pulse of new sports across the nation and what’s going on. We definitely have some changes that we need to make, some additions to make.” In the future, that may include adding such sports as rugby and lacrosse to the roster. “We’re seeing a lot of it in Prosper and there’s definitely carryover to football, so of course in Celina any way that we can attribute something benefitting our football players, that will certainly help,” he said. Davis said that kids need variety in their sports, especially when they are young. “You learn different skill sets. You teach your body to move in different ways,” he said. “That’s my philosophy, so we do what we can to offer as many different sports.” Follow the Celina Record on Twitter @celinarecord.