Hastings Family YMCA seeking volunteers for youth programs

HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) - The Hastings Family YMCA is looking for volunteers to help with their upcoming youth sports and spring activities.

The organization is looking for volunteers to coach their youth sports teams and help with other spring programs.

Associate Executive Director Ty Lebar said volunteers play a major role helping keep youth programs running.

”Most of our programs require volunteer help,” Lebar said. “We have about 100 teams this spring that kicked off this last weekend, but they require volunteers to have a team. All teams have to have a coach and if we didn’t have volunteer coaches for 150 teams, we wouldn’t have anybody to teach the kids.”

He also said that being a volunteer coach can play a key role in a kid’s life, in determining whether they want to pursue a sport or not.

”There’s a sense of putting others above yourself and denial of everything revolves around me and there’s a sense of giving back,” Lebar said. “I think of anybody who is in high school or college, there’s a lot of people, who went into the success of somebody growing up into a sport that contributed into their success and enjoyment of a program.”

Lebar also said that along with helping keep the sports programs going, they also keep registration costs down for their programs.

”A big part of who we are as a Y is that we don’t want to exclude anybody from being able to participate, or be able to pay to play,” Lebar said. “So, we are able to keep registration lower because we have volunteers, who give up themselves, their time, and their talents to help others.”

One thing that Lebar also found when it comes to volunteer coaches, a lot of times, they may be hesitant, but get a sense of pride after the season is over.

”It’s pretty common that someone does it reluctantly, but over the course of the season, there’s a satisfaction they get to see kids improve and have fun and it makes them want to come back,” Lebar said.

The YMCA is looking for volunteers in several different areas of their youth sports and spring programs this season.

View volunteer opportunities on the Hastings Family YMCA website.

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