Cutting Out Youth Group Disheartening

* Although it has been 15 years since two of our children participated in Valley Youth Conference nonprofit sports programs, I know the importance of these activities to youngsters and was deeply disheartened to read (July 22) that Kennedy High School plans on revoking the use of its track by the North Valley Golden Bears after 20 years of association.

With the current problems of youth gangs and an increase in the number of one-parent families, there is an even greater need for constructive after-school activities.

The Times stated that a number of Kennedy sports coaches have threatened to quit if the Bears are allowed to stay. The article quoted Kennedy Assistant Principal Mike McConahey as saying, “Nothing is so big and acute. What happens is we’re just getting tired of dealing with the same thing over and over.”

Do the Kennedy coaches tire of putting their teams into the playoffs? Local high schools receive well-trained athletes from the Valley Youth Conference programs of track and field, basketball, football and cheerleading activities. On a yearly basis, hundreds of VYC coaches and assistants devote afternoons, evenings and Saturdays to teaching youngsters ages 5-15 these sports and stressing the importance of being part of a team--lessons that last a lifetime.

Local high schools and the Valley Youth Conference benefit one another. Through the use of school facilities after hours, these structured sports programs keep kids off the streets. Their minds and bodies are trained in positive ways, and high school coaches do not have to spend valuable time teaching VYC athletes basic skills in related sports.

Kennedy claims the Bears wear out the track, hurdles are not put back and meets add to graffiti and vandalism at the school. Bears President Earle Charles counters, saying his club’s members are not responsible for the graffiti; the Bears take pride in belonging to the community and treat the track as if they own it.

For the good of some 4,000 athletes involved in the Valley Youth Conference as well as high school sports programs, immediate negotiations are necessary and a solution found to remedy the concerns of the school.

We are currently in the throes of rebuilding Los Angeles. And as a part of that rebuilding effort, the individual communities must continue to find ways to improve the opportunities of the youth of the city through such structured programs as the VYC, which help to provide a brighter future for all our citizens.

MARILYN W. FLOYD

Chatsworth