New Boy Scout Program Will Combine Soccer With Scouting

LOCKPORT, IL - Jarvis Franklin was never in Boy Scouts as a kid. Too busy with other things. Now that he's a District Executive for the local Rainbow Council scouting chapter, he wants to make sure other interested youths don't have the same problem. He and some other Rainbow Council leaders recently announced that they are launching a mixed scouting/soccer program for kids who don't want to choose between sports and scouts.

"You're asking kids to do all these things and they're like, 'no, I'm too busy, I've got football or band or something else,'" Franklin said. "This way we don't have to compete with all these different activities."

While many scouting groups in the nationwide Boy Scouts of America organization do make sports and physical exercise a key part of their programs, they are often only informal inclusions - an impromptu football game at a campout, for example, or an outing to a local archery range. Franklin said the program he envisions will include soccer as a formalized, ongoing league sport alongside more traditional scouting activities like fire safety and camp craft.

"We're going to have the whole soccer experience," Franklin said. "We're going to have soccer coaches and teams... and playoff brackets."

As a benefit to parents, the combined program might be cheaper than enrolling your child in a scout troop and soccer program would be separately. The combined program costs $150, which includes two months of soccer and a year of scouting. Assistance will also be made available for those who need help paying.

Right now, Franklin said he and other scout leaders were focused on bringing in younger kids - "cub scouts" - but that ultimately the league would be open for all scouting ages, from kindergarten to age 18. He added that the soccer element of the new combined program would mostly be held during the cold months.

"Around the first of the new year... the kids will get to know the teams. Practice will start in early January and games will probably start in late January and go until March or April," Franklin said. "After that, in summer, it will consist of just scouting stuff... then as it gets cold again, the soccer will start again. So it's kind of a year-round cycle."

To sign your child up for the combined scouting/soccer league, visit the Rainbow Council Scout Service Center at 921 State Street in Lockport on any Wednesday between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. New sign-ups will be accepted until Wednesday, December 11. For more information, contact Jarvis Franklin at Jarvis.Franklin@scouting.com or Daniel Stromberg at Daniel.Stromberg@scouting.com