For twenty youth sports organizations demonstrating their commitment to responsibility on and off the field/mat/court, Liberty Mutual will soon make a very memorable contribution in the form of a $2,500 Responsible Sports™ Community Grant. Leprechaun Youth Sports is hoping to be one of them.
Community Grants are part of Liberty Mutual's Responsible Sports program, which is an ongoing effort championing and celebrating responsibility in youth sports. This community-based program offers meaningful, easy-to-use educational resources for youth, sports-parents and coaches, including access to on-the-field game and practice preparation tools, as well as self-paced online coursework filled with learning tools, videos and topics addressing youth sports issues.
"The Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports program targets many of the issues we see happening at youth sporting events by shining a positive light on what it means to be a responsible coach and a responsible sports-parent. Beyond that, Liberty Mutual is making a significant financial contribution to support the efforts of local organizations like Leprechaun Youth Sports," said Greg Gordon vice president of Consumer Marketing at Liberty Mutual.
The Responsible Sports program, including the Community Grants, comes at a crucial time for communities like ours. Like other communities across the U.S., our own youth sports programs are under pressure from increasing numbers of participants, limited volunteer activity and mounting program management and administration costs. The Responsible Sports program provides access to valuable resources and assets that can ensure our organizations thrive even under challenging circumstances.
"The Leprechaun Youth Sports has made a tremendous impact on the young people in our community. The athletic programs provided by this organization offer invaluable opportunities where the participants can improve their skills while providing a positive environment in which they can learn invaluable life lessons," stated Bryan Corkle, O'Neill Public Schools teacher and head wrestling coach.
Leprechaun Youth Sports is registered for the Responsible Sports program. They are encouraging individual community members to complete one of the self-paced online courses (Responsible Coaching and Responsible Sport Parenting) and take a 10-question review quiz. Every completed quiz is worth one point. The organizations that earn the most points at the end of the grant period, in this case May 31, in each of the three divisions will earn one of the 20 grants. Youth sports organizations (club programs, park recreation departments, etc.) are competing for one of 14 $2,500 grants in two divisions, large and small, based upon the number of players. And six school athletic programs will earn a $5,000 grant, for a total of 20 Responsible Sports Community Grants to be awarded this spring. The more people each registered organization gets to complete the courses, the greater its chances of winning.
Complete details on the grants as well as the qualifying self-paced courses are available through the official program website at ResponsibleSports.com. To show your support, visit ResponsibleSports.com/Grant.
The Leprechaun Sports Club currently offers youth football and wrestling programs to our area young people. The organizations goal is to provide a positive experience for youth of all backgrounds, skill levels and means. The organization began as solely a youth wrestling club but in recent years has grown to include youth football.