Sports Editor
For more than 50 years, the Batavia Community Recreation League has given the youth of the local community an avenue in which to play organized team sports throughout the year.
Offering baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, soccer and cheerleading, the BCRL has given children ages 5 to 17 an affordable and fun option in a space becoming more infiltrated by travel and select teams.
“We have no official ties with the Batavia schools, but we obviously partner with them quite a bit because we are serving their kids,” said Clarence Klopfstein, the BCRL Treasurer. “We serve kids who aren’t playing for school teams. (Batavia) doesn’t offer basketball, for instance, for kindergarten through sixth grade. It’s the only place (around) that if you sign up, you’re going to play.”
The BCRL has recently expanded to older teams for kids who may get cut from scholastic team, yet still want to play. Klopfstein said the BCRL is an alternative to travel ball or select sports in that there are no tryouts or concerns about playing time — everyone who signs up, pays their registration and shows up will get to play.
As a not-for-profit organization, the BCRL relies upon a strong system of volunteers and sponsors to keep things running smoothly.
“We’re a volunteer-driven organization,” Klopfstein said. “The only thing that funds BCRL is the player registration fee — no tax money funds BCRL. All the board members and coaches are volunteers.”
With the small amount of money coming into the organization, BCRL has used fund raising efforts over the years to allow themselves to grow into an independently operated entity that boasts its own sports complex.
Over the years, BCRL has called numerous pieces of land ‘home,’ but it wasn’t until 1997 when the board undertook a large fundraising effort to purchase 31 acre of land off of Bauer Road that the organization was completely stable.
Now, with the exception of basketball, all BCRL teams use their own facility to practice and play. Basketball teams rent gym time from the Batavia schools to have practice and play at Batavia Middle School on Saturdays in the winter.
The BCRL teams play under the rules and regulations of the leagues to which they belong. For example, BCRL baseball teams compete in the Clermont County Knothole League and basketball teams compete in the Clermont Youth Basketball Association.
Currently the BCRL is in the midst of winter sports — basketball and cheerleading — but Klopfstein said that spring sports such as baseball and soccer are right around the corner.
Sign ups for the fall season will be coming up in early 2016, likely in February and Klopfstein urged parents of children interested in getting into sports to check out the organization’s website at bataviayouthsports.org.
On the website, interested parents can learn more about BCRL, its history, board members, how they can get involved and contact information should they have questions.