Local Youth Organizations Seeking Volunteers, Participants

Darien youth sports organizations are proving they can hold their own despite the many options available to kids these days.

While enrollment at the Darien Youth Club has waned slightly in the past few years, the club still boasts about 1,000 youth participants.

DYC officials said their biggest concern is getting volunteers.

“That’s a huge problem we face,” said Jamie Kuhlman, club president. “A lot of our volunteers have been with the program 10-plus years and their kids move on.”

In 2010, the Darien Youth Club celebrated a half century of service to the community's children. DYC is a nonprofit organization that operates boys and girls recreational leagues for a variety of sports, such as baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball.

Kuhlman attributes some of the organization’s declining enrollment to the economy.

“And some is people just aren’t signing up their kids,” she said. “I know other towns are struggling too with numbers.”

For the Darien Athletic Association (DAA), enrollment has continued to climb over the years.

“We started this in 2008 with 23 kids,” said Tony Lopez, DAA president. “Now we have close to 300 kids in the program.”

The DAA was formed as a feeder program for  and runs the Swarm football program, as well as baseball and soccer teams for Darien youths.

“We started out with one football team and this year we have six,” Lopez said. “We didn’t have any cheer squads when we started and now we have three.”

But there’s still a need for students in one DAA sport.

“We could use some more kids in soccer,” Lopez said.

He and fellow DAA members hope students continue to stay active with the organization.

“It’s not about wins or losses,” he said. “It’s about keeping them involved in their sport.”

And most importantly, both Lopez and Kuhlman said their organizations are geared toward reaching area youth.

“I think some people are scared to volunteer because they think it’s too much time or they think ‘I don’t know what I’m doing,’” Kuhlman said. “But I’ve coached teams for years. You just have to get in there and say, ‘I’m doing it for the kids and I’m going to do my best.’”