Registration in summer sports is holding strong despite the hit the local economy has taken due to the volatile energy sector, volunteers with Stettler Minor Ball and Stettler Minor Soccer confirm.
Soccer has just shy of 300 kids registered for this year, which is down from the previous year, according to Krista Stewart. She said that this year, the organization isn't fielding a U18 boys' team, and the U18 girls' and U16 boys' teams are small in numbers.
"What we struggled with is we've had people want to register past the registration date," Stewart said on Monday, April 25. "The deadline was in March, and we gave three weeks advance notice. We hold the registration at the same time every year, and we still have people trying to register now. I even had one today."
While Stewart said she hates turning away kids, the reason for the March deadline is so the league can form teams, order jerseys, and assign coaches. All of that has to be complete before the season starts, and late registrations throw those deadlines to the wind.
"As much as I want to say yes to these kids, if I say yes to one, then I'll have to say yes to others," she said. "And then things get out of hand."
Stewart said she believed that the lower numbers this year are in part due to people not registering in time.
Summer ball has seen leaps in most categories, with entry/rookie ball going up to 95 kids registered from 75 of the previous season and softball seeing 88 girls registered this year, 10 more than last year.
Baseball saw a drop in registrants, going from 91 kids to 78 this year.
"Baseball is down by 13, but that is because our midget team has left our league and is playing adult ball in search of a more competitive league," Donna Strohschein, registrar with Stettler Minor Ball, said.
Softball is fielding a U19 team this year, which it hasn't been able to do for the past two years, she noted.
"Overall, our numbers are up and we believe that is due to how economical our fees are and our great coaches," Strohschein said.