We are a "sports family" ~ soccer ( when they were young), basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball. Our support group started a sports program for middle school & high school students about 5 years ago. My husband is presently a board member and basketball coach, so we are actively involved in the operations. We have a solid girls volleyball program and boys & girls basketball programs, which compete against other homeschool teams in our state, as well as against local private and charter schools. We have dabbled in other sports as well ~ soccer, tennis, softball, golf ~ but the logistics of finding coaches and facilities and funds for multiple sports was overwhelming, so we pared back. Even with just 2 sports, finding facilities for practices and games is probably our biggest challenge. My two girls play volleyball on homeschool teams; one on Varsity, the other on JV. Today they have a match against another homeschool team from Fayetteville. We are able to rent the gym at a local charter school, which has a beautiful facility, making us the envy of many other homeschool sports programs. However, as the charter school has grown, they have expanded their own sports program, leaving less gym time available for us to rent. Area AAU teams also compete for gym time.
Most churches and community centers have been reluctant to allow us use of their facilities for a variety of reasons ~ #1 is liability ( even though we carry insurance ) ; and #2 is wanting to keep the schedule open for their own ministries / programs, etc. There is a local sports business that recently opened, which has 2 basketball / volleyball courts available to rent. We currently are using that facility for volleyball practices. But there is no room for spectators. Many hours are spent on the telephone, searching out space for our teams to play. It is part of running a homeschool sports program.
Those of us on the homeschool sports board dream of building our own "Homeschool Gym / Activity Center" someday! Ah, to have a place of our own,,,
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