Supporting the YMCA

In 2016, after Hurricane Matthew, many of the coaches and parents were dealing with damage to their homes. In an effort to gradually return to a semblance of normalcy on Grand Bahama, a few coaches still conducted the league on Saturdays. Phones were down and it was difficult to get the message out so the number in the league dropped to around 150 players. Scholarships were awarded to the players who could not afford the thirty-dollar annual registration fee.

This year, the organizers of the GBGDSL organized the grassroots youth program at the YMCA on Saturday mornings in an effort to rejuvenate the Y’s fifty-year-old program and to revamp the dying boys’ soccer program on the island. The registration fees were paid directly to the YMCA.

As a result, the YMCA had an increased enrollment. Some of them were our female players because it was run by the same organizers as the girls’ program in the afternoon, and because of the convenience of having their sons and daughters playing at the same time on Saturday. We are still advocates of separate soccer programs for the sexes and see that the females who play in the all-girls program are more aggressive and confident.