Nonprofit Clayton Ridge Youth Sports Association
Clayton Ridge Youth Sports members from left are, John Thomas, Dan Pierce, Ashley Burns, Stanley Bockenstedt, Lindsay Hatcher, Kyle Spersflage, Lesa Reimer, Matt Moser, Kelsey Bries, Andy Reimer and Tami Hansel. (Photo submitted)
By Caroline Rosacker
Clayton Ridge Youth Sports (CRYS) is a nonprofit athletic association organized in February 2022 with 11 voting board members that represent each of the sports that the Clayton Ridge Youth Sports organization offers.
Board members
• Basketball - Andy Reimer and Coach Kyle Sperfslage
• Little League - John Thomas, Austin Coon, and Kelsey Bries
• Football - Coach Matt Moser and Stanley Bockenstedt.
• Volleyball - Tami Hansel and Lindsay Hatcher
• Soccer - Coach Dan Pierce and Bill Allyn.
Non-voting members are Ashley Burns, Central Junior Warriors wrestling liaison, and Youth Sports Director Lesa Reimer, who oversees the organization, manages registrations and handles the treasurer duties.
"Youth wrestling has its own club and board of directors, therefore we have Ashley Burns as our liaison for the Central Junior Warriors wrestling program," explained CRYS President Andy Reimer. "This allows us to still be able to support our Clayton Ridge youth wrestlers."
CRYS mission
The group's mission is to give youth the opportunity to take part in sports at the elementary and middle school levels, and to build up athletes and teams for future Clayton Ridge high school sports. "With this organization, we now have one central location that families can go to for information on all youth sports," the group commented. "We use our website and Facebook page to communicate with parents and the community about registrations and current activities happening within the youth sports programs."
In creating the group, they have streamlined registration and payment processes for each of the sports, and have been able to offer a lot more consistency than before.
Working together more efficiently
Prior to forming this group, each of these sports operated independently of each other. "It was a lot of the same people managing things from sport to sport, but we felt like we were constantly having to switch gears each season using different accounts and decision making processes for each sport," said director Lesa Reimer. "We felt like we needed to set up something more efficient that would be able to support each of the sports better, have help in making some of the big decisions that needed to be made, and most importantly, make it easier to pass down to the next group of involved parents."
Tax deductible donations
Clayton Ridge Youth Sports formed a non-profit organization so that they could receive tax-deductible donations, and apply for corporate grants. "We obtained our tax identification number right away, and just a few months ago obtained our 501(c)3 status," they noted.
The youth sports organization would like to continue to grow their scholarship fund, which supports all of the sports mentioned above. Donations received go towards paying any unpaid registration fees that families are unable to cover. A specific fundraising goal is to raise money to work on building and improving the batting cages at both Vet's and Duwe Field. "We are always looking to keep our athletes looking sharp and keeping uniforms up to date as well," members added.
Committed to youth sports
The non-profit sports organization's by-laws require that they meet twice a year. "We typically meet between the winter and spring sports, and in the fall between fall and winter sports," organizers pointed out.
The real work on the board happens during each representative's sports season. The reps are in charge of their own sport's registration details, finding coaches, deciding rules, practice and game schedules, parent communication, and purchasing decisions. "So, while we only meet twice a year as a group, there is constant work being done throughout the year!" they stressed.
Clayton Ridge Youth Sports are always looking for new members. In theory the organization will change over the years as member's children grow up and move on to middle school and high school. Whenever someone is ready to move on from their representative spot, the board and the person moving on will work together to find a replacement.
For additional information, or if you would like to have a role in this organization, please reach out to any board member.
