It’s been awhile since we have written an article to publish for the town people to read, to help keep everyone informed on happenings here at AYS. We apologize for that and hope to amend this.

First, let’s talk about how Area Youth Sports is run behind the scene. Currently, the AYS Board of directors consists of eight members plus the president. Our bylaws state that the board shall consist of up to 12 members with a representative from each of the four AYS area towns (Fayette, Livermore, Livermore Falls and Jay).

A list of current board members can be found at www.ayssports.org. This board is made up entirely of volunteers. Each board member is voted in for a three-year term with our officers being voted in yearly. We have a charter, constitution and By Laws that govern this board and its programs. Any change to AYS programs lie solely on the board of directors and requires a majority vote.

We currently meet two times a month, every other Saturday or Sunday morning at 7 a.m. At this time, AYS is seeking new candidates to serve as members of our Board of Directors. We have four openings available and would love to fill them with individuals that are committed and passionate about our youth sports program and our athletes.

People who will be highly involved in the AYS planning and making the program continue to succeed. Someone who can bring new perspectives, strengths and energy! If you think you may want to come on board, please email a letter of intent to [email protected].

Also, our board meetings are always opened to the public. If you are interested in attending one, the next will be held at 7am on May 2nd.

Spring sports signups closed on 4/25/15 and were a home run! We have over 250 children that will participate in our baseball, softball and tee ball programs. Our tee ball program will consist of roughly nine teams who will be able to learn all about the fundamentals of baseball and softball while practicing and playing in fun noncompetitive games against each other.

Our baseball program is part of the Cal Ripken League and consists of a rookie, minor and major division. There will be roughly six teams between the three divisions. This year our baseball teams will be playing against some out of town teams, which will give them more opportunities to learn and gain skills to become better ball players and prepare themselves for when they finally are able to participate in more competitive school sports.

Babe Ruth League will consist of two teams; a prep team made up of the younger athletes and a major team made up of the older children. And softball will have roughly five teams between the divisions. Divisions are 8U, 10U, 12U and 14U. Softball will be part of the Franklin County League and we will be playing teams from Wilton, Strong, and Farmington, etc. We are more than excited to get the season started and hope you all are as well!

With that being said, it’s time to think about joining AYS for some of our spring projects. We are looking for a group of volunteers to help get our baseball fields in tip top shape for our youths before our 2015 baseball season.

We will be meeting at the AYS building on May 2nd at 9 a.m. and heading out to the area ball fields to do some much needed yard work and maintenance. We need a hand staining dugouts, raking and fixing infields etc. If you are interested in volunteering your time and manpower, we greatly appreciate it. If you are helping and can, please bring rakes, hoes, shovels, weed whackers, wheelbarrows, etc. The more help we get, the faster we can finish and get practices and games started.

History Night is right around the corner on May 22nd and AYS will be teaming up with Bailey Brothers Ford for a Drive 4UR Community event. This is a great fundraiser to help AYS raise money to be put towards our programs!

All you need to do to participate in this is complete a quick survey and simply test drive one of their vehicles. This is a no pressure event and participants do not need to be interested in purchasing a vehicle to participant. So please spread the word and help AYS by doing a test drive. After your test drive head on over for a bite to eat. Our AYS food wagon will be there to serve up some of our amazing french fries, burgers and hotdogs.

With History Night comes another opportunity to volunteer. We are currently looking for individuals who could work alongside board members in the food wagon that evening. We will need at least two volunteers to help with all our shifts. Shifts are from 3-5 p.m., 5-7 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. If you are interested please email Heather Williams at [email protected].

With these volunteer services comes a reward! AYS is always looking for volunteers and is proud to say if you give us a hand, we will give you a hand. How, you wonder? With our AYS V.I.P Rewards Program.

As you know volunteering your services helps all of the AYS programs and benefits all of the children participating in sports throughout the community! Now volunteering can benefit you, too. With this incentive program, you can be rewarded for the wonderful support you give.

How does the program work? When you have volunteered 10 hours of your time to AYS, you will be presented with a certificate for a $40 waiver to be used towards any signup fee (limited to one certificate per year). Board members, commissioners and coaches are excluded from this particular program.) If you’d like to take part in this program, start volunteering today!

Lastly, AYS works hard to keep the cost of each sport at an affordable level. We have always supported the idea that, if a sport can financially pay for itself, it will continue. With that being mentioned, we can’t stress how much collecting signup fees in a timely manner is EXTREMELY important to help maintain the 11 programs we offer.

If you haven’t paid for the upcoming spring season, please don’t forget to by logging into your account at www.ayssports.sportssignup.com and making a credit card payment or mail a check to AYS PO Box 363, Jay ME 04239. If you are having financial hardships and need to speak to someone regarding this issue, please contact Heather Williams~AYS Treasurer at [email protected].

We are willing to help in any way we can. Sign up fees help cover costs of insurance, uniforms, equipment, officiating, league fees etc. These are fees that we don’t necessarily have control over but must be responsible to pay in order to maintain operations. Right now, certain sports are not paying for themselves with our current signup fees but we are able to offset some of this by selling concessions, doing sports photos and by getting donations from local business and our towns.

As always if you have any questions or comments about our program you can direct them to our AYS president David Frey at [email protected]

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