VILONIA— The Vilonia Sports Association has ended the fall sporting season with a bang. Some parents as well as children are sorry to see it come to an end. The VSA, operating in the second year, marked the end of season by serving potluck chili and fireworks at a Super Bowl party held Tuesday night. Many families were gathered to eat chili and watch the final softball game as well as the fireworks show.
A single mother, Angelique Hendrix was in attendance along with her two sons, Britt and Aaron. The boys had spent the season playing football. “Now, I guess they will just go back to video games and I hate that,” Hendrix said.
A college student, she said, juggling her son’s games and her studying was often a hassle but one that was worth the end result. She detailed a season of transporting children back and forth to practice and games while attending college in Jonesboro. She was lucky, she said, to have supportive family members especially her cousin Lisa Roofner who also has children in the program and helped with some of the transporting.
The experience of participating in football said has been most rewarding for her boys as well as given them a “much needed” outlet. Adding insight, she said, “times have been bad this year for me and my boys. I have closed a chapter on an abusive relationship.”
Following, she said, “Britt was like a clam in a clam shell for awhile. This has been so good for him and Aaron. Since they’ve been playing, that’s all they talk about football.”
Britt, a member of the Falcon team, didn’t seem to mind that his team didn’t exactly have a winning year either.
“We lost every game but the last one,” he offered. The score was 36 to 8 in it.”
Coach Matt Williams interjected that Britt walked away from the game as the most valuable player.
“He made two or three touchdowns last night,” Williams said, patting the smiling youngster on the head.
It’s not the winning or the losing to the majority of the grownups either, said Marcy McCroskey, VSA president.
“It’s that every child gets to participate,” she said. The VSA formed last year and is in its 18th month of operation--running sporting programs for Vilonia area children.
Summing up the year, McCroskey said. “This year has been a great year. We definitely have some things we need to work on but for our first year we are pleased. This is our first year with the NFL. We have seen our numbers grow and people getting excited about playing ball.”
VSA officials, she said, are for the most part all volunteers and more could be utilized if they would give of their time. She challenges parents to step forward and become a volunteer for the upcoming season.
“We need parents to volunteer,” she continued. “Issues arise every season because we can not get parents to coach teams. As our season comes to an end, this year, we are still in the process of refunding parents whose kids didn’t get the chance to play. My advise would be to all, if one’s child enjoys something, get as involved as possible in what they love.”
Clinics are available to help parents learn about each sport that is offered, McCroskey added.
“Everyone is limited in time,” she said. “Our commissioners are all volunteer positions with full time jobs and families as well. I commend them for the time and effort they put in every week to allow all of our children to play sports.”
The planning session, McCroskey said, is beginning for the next season. She encouraged those interested to check the VSA web site www.viloniasports.com. It is updated, she said, on a weekly basis. Registration for the spring season is to begin at the end of January.
“This year they will be able to register online,” she added. “We are excited to be able to offer this feature as well as a lot of new coach’s tools, fundraising ideas and communication upgrades. Establishing a sports league is a long process, but we are hoping to continue moving forward.”
