By Shaun Ho
Since 2020, our church has directed families to participate in Kare Youth League, a Christian sports league for children PreK - 6th grade. Hear from one of our parents share testimony of his family's experience being in Kare Youth League.
Just before the pandemic, our kids were starting to get involved in sports, even taking semi-private lessons for basketball. Like with everything else, this venture was cut short by the closures. As things opened up again in 2021, we wanted to find an inexpensive avenue (like some city community centers have) to have them re-engage in team sports, but still receive a decent level of coaching. We weren’t looking for anything as advanced as club/travel teams (we were not that intense about it) and we wanted something that we could reasonably juggle our schedule around. Pastor Victor invited us to check out KARE Youth League (KYL) in Irwindale (they have other branches in Covina and Upland), so we signed our son up for soccer in the summer of 2021.
Our son really loved playing at KARE and we were really impressed by the quality of the facilities as well as the warmth of the community. As the summer closed out, we were thankful that the next sport offered for the girls was volleyball. Our daughter was willing to try it because of some spontaneous volleyball play at church and because she has always known that I have played and coached the sport. It was during this fall season that we really got to know more of the parents as well as the staff, and this set off a new era in our family’s lives.
Our entire family has found a great community at KYL and I became a participant in an unofficial “Dad’s Club” while watching our kids practice and play games. Our daughter and our son really enjoy playing with their teammates and I love how the environment fosters a general level of respect and warmth even in the parent community. Having coached and known many coaches, I have felt and heard from most of them how difficult the parents can be sometimes, but I have not witnessed much of that at KYL. In fact, it is not unusual for a parent to say encouraging things to kids from the other team, win or lose. I believe much of the reason for this is set by the tone of the coaches. They will call out, give directives, and even gently discipline the kids, but never in anger. Even during a game when they feel a referee made an error, they will point it out without anger and do not continue to make an issue of it. They do not merely preach good sportsmanship. They exemplify it.
But the coaches do not just focus on the sport with our kids; they have weekly devotionals with them and work on character building. I have witnessed on several occasions a coach gently pull a kid aside, if the child was not exhibiting care and/or respect, and compassionately speak to them about the issue without making the child feel bad. Even the assistant coaches are great. They are youth that have gone through leadership training in the Rio Hondo Prep program and they all are great leaders and role models for our kids. Essentially, I believe that all the staff demonstrate a great meld of healthy competition in sports combined with the heart of Jesus. Even in Paul’s exhortations, he doesn’t call us to shy away from competition, only to compete in what matters.
“24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” - I Cor. 9:24, 25
Although the kids aren’t exactly competing for the crown that will last forever at KYL, they are shown the heart of healthy competition so they know what it looks like. Additionally, the kids are given good exposure to a variety of sports so they have the chance to discover what they are most passionate about.
In the midst of this family atmosphere that we have come to love, we discovered that the Rio Hondo Prep School (RHP), which this program is connected with, could also be a viable option for our own kids. With my wife and I both being public school teachers, we never seriously thought that we would want to or could afford to send our kids to private school. Well, the Lord has opened up the doors in a variety of ways and we discovered that, compared to most private schools, RHP is actually quite affordable. We are truly excited that we have found not only a sports program that will also guide the characters of our kids towards Jesus, but a school environment that will continue to partner with us in such character-building until they become young adults. We are so thankful for the doors the Lord has opened up in our lives and are excited as we venture into this new chapter in our lives.
For more information about KYL or RHP, feel free to contact Pastor Victor or visit www.kyl.org and www.rhprep.org