A new partnership between Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan and Greater Metropolitan Youth Sports League is helping keep youth safe and sports alive for nearly 2,700 local youth athletes.
With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting nearly all corners of kids’ day-to-day activities, the partnership helps restore a sense of normalcy to allow Detroit-area youth to continue enjoying the sports they love. Kicking off this past summer with 11 teams, the team-up allowed youth ages 5-14 to once again participate in football and cheerleading in a safe, socially distanced manner that provides an opportunity to incorporate fitness back into their everyday lives.
“Being able to give these children some joy is something that we can’t even describe,” GMYS president LaKenya Burks says. Six hundred volunteers help operate the nonprofit organization, which was established in 2015 and encourages athletic and scholastic endeavors in youth. “They are so happy to connect with people.”
It’s an important element for kids, who lacked socialization for months as the state navigated COVID-19 and lockdowns. The partnership, which also offers enrichment programming, events, and mentorship, has helped stabilize an otherwise unstable moment in time for children, who have been impacted hard by the pandemic.
Many local youths weren’t able to make fitness a priority these last few months, which Burks says resulted in weight gain and affected their mental health. “We had young people who had been in the house since March,” BGCSM area club director Chris Kyles explains. The clubs, founded in 1926, serve nearly 15,000 youth annually across the greater Detroit area and provide enrichment programming with real-world learning.
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With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting nearly all corners of kids’ day-to-day activities, the partnership helps restore a sense of normalcy to allow Detroit-area youth to continue enjoying the sports they love.
Now, participating kids have completely changed thanks to being able to enjoy sports again. Kyles says, “They are eating better, more motivated, and have increased their activity levels.” Being able to compete once more has also been important for the children. “The key is getting out and getting a chance to be active,” he explains.
It’s a great benefit, Kyles says, “For kids to be back out in the fields every day. They’re becoming mentally stronger, something that is important to help cope with the pandemic and its effects.” While the partnership currently focuses on football and cheerleading, BGCSM and GMYS plan to also incorporate basketball in the winter. By then, they hope to grow the amount of youth they’re able to service to 3,000.
Parent Shaneika Thomas says the partnership helped her kids participate in activities to help develop as “responsible young men.”
“With everything going on this year with COVID, our lives have changed in so many ways. One of our main concerns as parents were that our children would not be able to participate in their normal football season. But [BGCSM and GMYS] allowed my children to still have safe social interaction as well as physical activities,” she says.
Another key goal of the partnership is to ensure youth athletes are career, startup, and homeowner-ready by the time they reach the age of 18. On top of providing fitness opportunities, the programming also incorporates coaching where youth are taught and encouraged to succeed in all areas of their lives. They receive social and emotional support through an uplifting and inspiring environment designed to bring joy to both youth and their families. It’s a safe space where kids can simply be kids.
That idea is a core belief of both BGCSM and GMYS. Because the organizations’ missions matched up so well, it was the ideal partnership. “We are experts at youth sports,” Burks explains. “And BGCSM are experts at youth development. Overall, I think combining the two powerhouses together allowed us to build phenomenal products for our future and for 21st-century athletes.”
“It helps them have character, be competitive and be successful as they go into post-secondary education,” Kyles continues. “So I think this is the perfect marriage and allows us to be able to serve even more youth and to have a greater impact.”
Due to the pandemic, GMYS was in danger of losing its programs earlier this year, like many other nonprofit organizations. When their host organization made plans to cancel the fall sports season as a result of COVID-19, the nonprofit approached BGCSM to step in as a league partner.
BGCSM was thrilled to come on board and now supports three areas of the partnership. They serve as the fiduciary and offer administrative support; they provide education and enrichment programming; and they help GMYS team leadership access Ponyride coworking memberships to strengthen and grow their organizations.
Community stakeholders and businesses including Xenith and Blaze Contracting Inc. have also paired up with BGCSM and GMYS to donate more than $100,000 in support of program operations and youth programming. This helps provide top-rated equipment to youth sports participants.
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Local teams the Oldtown Ducks vs the Westside Steelers face off in a game earlier this fall.
The two organizations have also taken all of the necessary steps to ensure a COVID-safe environment for youth, coaches, and families. Youth are required to have their own water bottle, which is either provided or can be brought from home, and temperature checks are completed daily and recorded. All volunteers undergo COVID-19 testing and game attendances are limited.
It’s a protocol BGCSM and GMYS developed in partnership earlier this summer after regularly meeting to discuss best practices and safety measures. Now, with the programming in place and proving to be successful, they want to continue expanding. “We hope this partnership will go for years and years,” Kyles says. “We are building the foundation of a legacy where GMYS and BGCSM will have a long-lasting impact on the youth of the city in a positive way.”