MY Club seeks community help for 500 youth athletes

After already stepping in to continue baseball, softball, football and cheer programs, MY Club is asking the community to help sustain opportunities for more than 500 local youth.

For generations of mountain-area families, youth sports mean more than practices and games. They mean children finding teammates, parents volunteering on the sidelines and communities coming together around traditions of their own.

This year two of those traditions were facing an uncertain future. So Mountain Area Youth Organization (MAYO), known throughout the community as MY Club, announced the launch of Mountain Area Youth Athletics (MAYA).

MAYO’s decision to take on the challenge was made after Sierra Mountain Little League and Yosemite Youth Football & Cheer approached MAYO officials separately. Both organizations were facing financial and operational challenges that made continuing independently unsustainable.

Taking care of what’s important

MY Club made it a priority to keep the sports they offered available to local families.

“When we sat down with these organizations and understood these programs were facing the possibility of closing we knew we had to find a way to help,” said Jennifer Simmons, MAYO executive director.

“Our purpose has always been to create as many positive opportunities for kids as possible.

The thought of hundreds of local children losing baseball, softball, football and cheer was something we couldn’t ignore.”

The two programs — little league and youth football/cheer — serve more than 500 local youth. Taking them on in a single year is a weighty task for a rural nonprofit that’s already serving children across the mountain communities.

“This is a big responsibility,” Simmons said. “It means additional facilities, equipment, insurance, staffing, volunteers, fundraising, registration, scheduling and countless hours behind the scenes. But when the alternative was watching opportunities for our mountain youth potentially disappear we decided to figure it out. And we did.”

MY Club’s story began in 1999 when community members worked to create a safe place for mountain-area children to spend time after school. MAYO was formed with a simple purpose: keep the needs of local children at the center of the work.

Today, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit operates publicly as MY Club/Mountain Youth Clubs. Its programs have grown to include afterschool and summer care, academic support, enrichment, leadership development, arts and music, STEM, cooking, fitness and teen programming across multiple Eastern Madera County communities and school districts.

MY Club serves children from transitional kindergarten through the teenagers and, in recent years, has reached more than 1,500 young people annually. Athletics is an important part of that work with opportunities including basketball, volleyball, flag football, golf, soccer, lacrosse, swimming, baseball and softball, as well as camps and clinics.

Mountain Area Youth Athletics (MAYA)

The launch of MAYA gives MY Club a dedicated structure to coordinate and grow its sports programs while keeping them safe, welcoming and focused on children. It also helps preserve the community traditions that families have built around their teams.

“These programs belong to the kids and families of our mountain communities,” Simmons said.

“There are generations of families who played on these fields, coached these teams and volunteered for these leagues. We aren’t trying to replace that history. We want to protect it and build on it.”

The Yosemite Badgers remain the Yosemite Badgers. Football and cheer continue under their familiar name with registration now available online through MY Club.

The organization is also fundraising to help lower uniform costs. Following the retirement of the former Sierra Mountain Little League at the end of its 2025 season local families can find baseball and softball opportunities through MY Club Athletics.

A community effort

The teams may have a new organizational home but their future still depends on the people who have always made mountain youth sports possible. MY Club welcomes coaches, volunteers, parents, sponsors, businesses and community partners who want to help children continue to play close to home.

Residents can also support this work through MY Club’s MY Pledge, the organization’s monthly giving campaign. Ongoing community support helps MY Club plan for equipment, program costs and assistance that makes participation more accessible to local families.

To explore athletics and registration, visit mountainyouthclubs.org/my-club-athletics

To learn more about MY Club and how to support its programs, visit mountainyouthclubs.org

Send athletics questions to athletics@mtareayouth.org.