The City of Soda Springs Recreation Department is excited to announce a new partnership with the Soda Springs Youth Sports Foundation to facilitate the team sport programs for the youth. In a cooperative program, we are thrilled to be able to work together to provide the development and training that is needed for the youth to build for success throughout their sport playing days, and for life. We recognize that not all young athletes develop at the same pace and that skill acquisition comes at many different stages in life. Our goal is to make sure that our young athletes can continue to develop in their sport while having fun and ultimately developing a love for the game and the process of working toward personal goals.

We will begin this partnership for the upcoming 2024-2025 basketball season. As many are aware, we have taken steps to change our format for team sports and basketball will be the biggest change of them all. We will be holding a mandatory skills evaluation, or “tryout”, for each athlete registered through the city recreation program. These will be held for each grade level prior to the beginning of their season. Following the mandatory skills evaluation, athletes will be placed in groups that are appropriate for their skill and age level. With our partnership with the SSYSF, we will be able to facilitate both development and competitive opportunities outside of the area for our youth. Our primary goal is to provide a positive and fun learning environment that can help our youth learn and grow in accordance with USA Basketball’s development stages. As our youth advance in their skills, we will continue to form teams for them to compete and learn. Some of the greatest athletes to pass through Soda Springs High School were not superstars in 4th or 5th grade, and we want to make sure all of the youth have a place to develop at a pace they can be successful. We feel this is a win-win solution for the youth as they will be able to have fun while learning the game during the most critical development stages of body growth and motor skill refinement.

This new change also allows for us to expand the age range of program offerings for our youth. While traditionally we have only offered 3rd through 6th grade, we now will be able to extend our coverage to 7th-8th grade. With the desire of the community to have a strong athletic program at the high school level, we feel these changes will be beneficial for all of our youth programs, not just basketball. We will continue to provide information for each sport season, but are thrilled to start this new partnership for all sports and will publish further information about what is coming in 2025 by the first of the year. 

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