- Video shows President of Arvin Little League Matt Look explaining how this sports program keeps the kids in the community off the streets.
- The program gets anywhere from 140-250 registered players every season and has won several statewide championships.
- The league faces several challenges including the lack of volunteers and the poor quality equipment and field.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Arvin Little League is already making preparations to swing into spring as they wrap up their fall schedule. And they are in need of donors to help replace old equipment so they do not strike out.
Matt Look, president of the Arvin Little League says this league has been in the community for 51 years and has allowed kids in Arvin, Lamont, and Weedpatch to learn America's pastime.
"Keep the kids out here. Get them off the streets. Keep them busy. Get them focused on other things besides you know what’s going on the negative side of the city," said Look.
Matt Look says that his favorite thing about volunteering with the league is being able to see the players ages 3 to 15 years old, grow and become young adults.
"I've been around for 12 years and so a lot of the t-ballers when we started you know they’ve gone through high school now. Just watching them go through the league and into high school," explained the president of the league."
In addition to football, Look said that the little league is one of the biggest youth sports in the community and receives 140 to 250 registered players per season.
"Without these two clubs we wouldn’t have anything really. We have boxing but as far as community-wide youth sports we’re pretty much one of the two clubs out here, so we’re pretty vital," stated Look.
Throughout their existence, Look said some of its teams have competed in state tournaments and have even won state championships. However, the league is facing several challenges including the lack of volunteers and the poor quality of equipment and playing field.
"Were always looking for more people to help out and just being able to provide that for the kids to have people volunteer. It’s 100 percent based program so nobody gets paid," said Look.
Look said the league charges low registration fees to cover uniform expenses and relies on community donations to account for the cost of equipment and field maintenance. He said these challenges do not pose a threat to the league, but it does affect the kid's experience on the field.
"We’ll make it work with what we have and we’ll repair whatever we need but definitely, it hurts the number of kids we can provide on the field equipment."
Early bird registration starts in December and will run through January. Donations are welcomed anytime and can be made by contacting Look directly via the contact information provided on their website, https://www.arvinlittleleague.org.
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