Before I attended classes this winter I had dedicated a small portion of my life volunteering for Yakima Youth Soccer Association (YYSA), which is a non-profit organization that helps facilitate youth soccer participation--whether in leagues or tournaments--in the greater Yakima Valley in Washington State. The greater Yakima Valley has over 100,000 residents, of which nearly half are Mexican American. The significant Hispanic influence, along with a history of strong youth soccer programs spanning the last thirty years, has made it a community where soccer participation is not only unusually high, but is considered a sport of civic pride. In 2008 along, the organization represented over 2,000 athletes under the age of 18, and over its lifespan has helped over 40,000 children experience the joys of playing organized soccer. Yakima is also home of the Yakima Reds who are part of the semi-professional USL league.
However, Yakima does not have adequate facilities to meet the demand of the thousands of youth players who compete every year. The YYSA board of directors had the foresight to realize the Valley had insufficient soccer facilities for young players, and began to save revenue from tournaments and league dues with the hopes of acquiring land and developing a soccer complex for youth soccer. In order to make an idea into reality they brought onboard project manager Larry Mattson to help develop plans for land acquisition and permitting as well as create a business plan and operating agreement with the city. To see the project homepage go here: http://www.yysa.org/frameset.php. The estimate 2-3 million dollar complex will sit on 35 acres of land, have between 12-14 regulation sized sod fields (including what will likely be a center-court style championship field), and includes an administration building and concessions building.
With knowledge of the project, and as a YYSA participant for 10 years, I asked Larry if I could volunteer, and he gladly put me on a number of projects. Almost immediately I began helping out with operating agreements, facility planning and finances. Shortly after I began helping Larry I arrived at SDSU for the SMBA program and I immediately realized how our class could help him and YYSA out. I asked Larry about bringing some students onboard. He was more than glad for the help and immediately provided us with a number of projects. I was pretty excited to get about 10 people from class to help with the various assignments.
We set up a 45 minute conference call for introductions and to review documents he had sent us; business agreement, operating agreement, cost analysis, permitting plans, board minutes, etc. He then gave us a list of things he wanted us to work on for him and the organization. Among them were exploring the use of social networking sites (like Facebook) for promotion and fundraising, developing ideas for how best to generate atypical revenue streams, creating marketing and sponsorship strategies for the unique Yakima Valley demographic, and performing cost analysis estimates for construction and operations. All of our findings and finished products will be submitted to the YYSA board of directors, and some will even make it into the final business plan! This has been an excellent opportunity for all of us to get a better understanding of facility development, cost analysis and for generating unique sponsorship and marketing ideas primarily targeted to Hispanic’s.
-- Matt Hiler, SMBA 2010
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