The fall sports season is gearing up to kick off on both ends of the county. Children of all ages are about to fill both recreation fields for football, cheerleading and soccer. In addition, Richmond Hill will have baseball, softball, soccer and tennis.
"This is our busiest time of year," said Richmond Hill Recreation Association President Sanford Carter. "With high numbers of registration for all our fall sports, we stand to have more kids playing on recreation turf this Fall than ever before."
"With all these sports sharing our fields and schedules, things will be full every night of the week," said RHRA employee Donna Reid. "All the way until mid November, anyone driving by the park will see a pretty active place from front to back."
Much of the same could be said for the rec action in North Bryan this fall. "We are hoping to have a big year," said Hendrix Park employee Stella Myrick. "Everybody is excited about our fall season."The biggest numbers are for Richmond Hill soccer with 450 kids registered thus far. In North Bryan, Hendrix Park is having their very first year of soccer and registration has just started.
Football is the next popular sport with 260 signed up in Richmond Hill and 78 at Hendrix Park. The registration period is over, but there is still limited availability. In-house practice began on Monday.
For Richmond Hill, Reid reports the 8U, 10U and 12U South Georgia Youth Football League (SGYFL)-sanctioned Wildcat teams (8 & u, 10, 12) have been selected and can be viewed via the football link on www.rhrasports.com. The SGYFL Redskins in Hendrix Park are already formed as well. These specific teams will compete in league games against SGYFL teams from Effingham, Savannah and Pooler, including end of season tournaments. In-house teams are also formed and will compete strictly against other teams from their area.
The SGYFL season will kick off with a Rama event, hosted by Richmond Hill, on Sept. 8 with regular season play to run from Sept. 15-November 3. In-house programs will run Sept. 17-Nov. 3 and will also include an end of season tournament.
Cheerleading for RHRA and Hendrix Park will run for the same time period with cheering to take place for every SGYFL and in-house game. Richmond Hill has 100 cheerleaders and Hendrix Park has 37.
Sign-ups for Fall baseball and softball in Richmond Hill are underway. Registration deadlines are Aug. 25 for boys and September 13 for girls. It is for ages 7-14. Reid noted the 10U brackets will have kid pitching, as opposed to machine pitch, which is a first for that age division. She said pitching coaches are being added for that league and this is being done to give the 12U baseball and softball brackets a leg up on experience in this department.
The game of softball is also slated to feature the lone RHRA adult Fall league. The registration deadline for both men and women is Sept. 14. The season will run from Sept. 25-November 1 and will feature strictly local play.
Sign-ups for Richmond Hill tennis is ongoing and feature an adult and junior league. The season has already started and will continue until right before Thanksgiving. Forty adults and thirty children are currently enrolled, and new classes are starting on a continuing basis.
The junior division, which is ages 4-18, plays on the weekends while the adult game times are set by the participants. Richmond Hill Area Tennis Association board member Judy Schneider said it will most likely end up being Sunday nights because that has been a popular time in the past.
Schneider said, in addition to league play, the group also has junior and adult lessons, team tennis and tournaments. "We also have pickup games Wednesdays at 7 p.m. for ladies and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. for men which are at no charge," she said.
RHRA and Hendrix Park have recently distributed thousands of flyers about upcoming Bryan County rec sports, so the already-high registration numbers are expected to rise. For further information or registration on any of the above listed sports, call 858-4640 for Hendrix Park or, for Richmond Hill, call 756-4075 or visit www.rhrasports.com and follow the link for your sport of choice.