New organization building alliance to benefit all Noblesville sports
By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com
Coaches of all sports tell their teams that when players come together, great things can happen.
So, what about if all different sports came together? The Noblesville Youth Sports Alliance believes that can lead to great things happening as well.
The NYSA is a new organization, in existence for not even a year. Its website (www.noblesvillesports.com) says that the NYSA “exists to promote and elevate local youth sports organizations” in the Noblesville community “with marketing, scholarships and charitable contributions.
David Leyva, the executive director of NYSA, said that 17 different programs are part of the alliance, including the majority of the youth sports programs in Noblesville.
“We cover every sport you can think of in Noblesville,” said Leyva.
NYSA got started with talks between the City of Noblesville and Noblesville Schools. Those talks began in September of 2021. Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen and then-Noblesville Schools assistant superintendent David Mundy started initial conversations with the various organizations. NYSA formed its articles of incorporation in February, soon receiving its 501(c)(3) non-profit charity designation.
“Noblesville is fortunate to have many successful youth sports groups,” said Jensen. “Through conversations with many residents and stakeholders, it became apparent that a unified coordinating and marketing structure would help sustain gains made to date and enhance our overall position going forward.”
NYSA’s first actions were to establish a budget. The City of Noblesville committed to provide two years of funding, $20,000 per year. The alliance also established a social media and website presence, then developed an advertising and marketing plan. NYSA began connecting with the Hamilton County Sports Authority, “to make sure we were collaborating well with them,” said Leyva.
Leyva said that from the city’s perspective, when businesses come to the city and say they’re interested in moving to Noblesville, one of the common questions the city get is “what are your youth sports like?” Leyva noted that it was complicated to give those businesses the full rundown of youth sports.
“Similarly, when families approach the school corporation, talk about coming to Noblesville, they would experience the same challenges. That’s the promotion and marketing aspect of the alliance, making sure potential businesses know what programs are available,” said Leyva, who also said that NYSA also wants to make sure that new and existing families are also aware of those programs.
(Photo by Noblesville Sports Photography)
Leyva boils NYSA’s reach down to three major points, one that he wants everyone to be aware of: “One community, 6,500-plus kids, 17 programs, because that’s our impact. That’s really the promotional and marketing aspect of the alliance,” he said.
One of the big points of NYSA is that since it is an alliance, the youth sports organizations can help each other out.
Leyva said that if “there’s potential issues with fundraising, they need help trying to bolster the number of kids on the program,” then the different groups in the Alliance “can come together and help,” said Leyva. “If you think about across 17 programs, the amount of experience among the people running these programs is vast.
NYSA will entertain future sports or organizations that want to join the alliance.
“We do have membership criteria and we do have an application process that we are working on,” said Leyva.
Those interested in finding out more about NYSA can visit its website at noblesvillesports.com, or look up “Noblesville Youth Sports Alliance” on Facebook.