Adult Sports Leagues
About 108 men played in the Mid-Ohio Valley Adult Baseball League (MOVABL) in 2013, along with another dozen part-time players. (Photo courtesy MOVABL)
West Virginia has few statewide or regional adult sports organizations. But many communities, like Parkersburg, have their own adult leagues or clubs. Nobody tracks it statewide, but everyone agrees adult leagues are alive and well.
“I don’t know why doctors don’t prescribe sports more often for people who are at risk of Type 2 diabetes or other chronic diseases,” said WVU’s Dr. Bill Neal.
A no-brainer from research: A half hour of physical exercise three time a week, combined with reasonable eating, has been proven to significantly lower a person’s risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart attacks and many other illnesses. Social support also lower the risk.
Sports leagues provide both of those things, plus they increase a town’s appeal to incoming residents or businesses.
What kind of organized physical activity does your community have for adults?
Inventory what’s already going on. How can you expand choices? How support those you already have? How let people know about them?
- Your parks and recreation department. Do they sponsor adult sports leagues? If you don’t have one, would it be feasible/ a good idea to create one?
- List possible places where a team could play. Are there public facilities that could be used after hours? Schools or public buildings? Can you make a joint use agreement, for instance, with the schools? Is there public land the county will lease for a nominal fee?
- Will your local newspaper publish a regular listing of adult sports opportunties so more people will know about them? Too often, there is no listing, so people who would like to join don’t know about it.
Here are some how-to’s:
- How to start adult sport leagues: Family Clubs and Organizations published a “How to start an adult softball league” page. If you scroll down, you’ll find “How to start a basketball league,” “How to start a lacross league,” etc. http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/how-to-start-adult-softball-league2.htm
- How to manage a sports league or tournament: http://www.runleagues.com/
- How to start your own sports team: http://www.wikihow.com/Start-Your-Own-Sports-Team
Visit an existing club or contact a regional/ state group:
- Southern WV Adult Soccer League: http://swvasl.com/ and, for youth: http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/aboutus/WestVirginiaSoccerAssociation
- Softball:
- West Virginia Amateur Softball League. http://wvaasa.com
- Mountaineer Girls Softball Association: http://leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=bachmannhess
- List of softball tournaments: http://softballtournaments.com/index/id/tourn_find/st/WV
- Mountain State Adult Baseball League: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mountain-State-Adult-Baseball-League/485059241567636. This facebook page appears to be inactive. A statewide league waiting to happen!
- Volleyball: West Virginia has no statewide league yet, but there are several local clubs and leagues. Type “West Virginia volleyball clubs” into a search engine.
- Basketball, youth: http://www.cityofcharleston.org/get-involved/youth-sports/basketball
- Hockey: Wheeling and Morgantown have high school programs and amateur teams. Here’s the Wheeling Amateur Hockey League site: http://wvwaha.com/. Here are high school listings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_school_ice_hockey_in_West_Virginia
- Tennis: West Virginia chapter of the US Tennis Association: http://www.westvirginia.usta.com
- Roller derby list of WV clubs: http://www.derbyroster.com/league.php?country=united_states.
- Here’s a West Virginia Public Broadcasting post about roller derby clubs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUCO0e1D3m8
Create a Web listing for local teams and activities. Some models:
- Morgantown-area BOPARC listings (Board of Parks and Recreation) http://www.boparc.org/index.html A model local Web recreation listing. Covers a wide variety of sports and recreation opportunities.
- Upshur County soccer: https://www.facebook.com/upshuradultsoccer: A good model of a facebook page for a local league, in this case, a coed, recreational soccer league for players of all skill levels who have finished high school.
- Beckley’s Southern WV YMCA offers a basketball league and also a drop-in “noon basketball” program for adults and teens, five days a week, noon to 1:30: http://www.ymcaswv.com/id97.html
These online sites that track WV leagues and tournaments are fairly hit and miss:
- http://westvirginia.sportsvite.com/
- http://www.athleticandsocialleague.com
- https://www.facebook.com/asl.Charleston – Charleston-area listings. Sand volleyball and others.
- http://quantumsportscenter.com/ Sports training center has solid soccer listings for the Charleston areas.
- http://theopam.com: comprehensive listings for the mid-Ohio River Valley area.
Also see these related Try This pages: Dancing, Start a youth sports league, Get people paddling, Build and connect trails, Start a running/walking group, Become a bike-friendly community
How do we find out about male softball for my fieance
You can call your local YMCA/YWCA, rec center or church groups, and they will usually have information on any adult sports activities. If your community does not have anything, and you would like to start your own, you can apply for a Try This Mini-grant by coming to the Conference June 7-8th in Buckhannon, WV.