For their part, the City of Boise gave the Optimist Club permission to develop a city-owned park as a recreational facility with a focus on football. In turn, the Optimist Club promised to fund the development and maintenance of the Boise Optimist Youth Sports Facility with 20 football fields, tennis courts, playground, permanent concession stands and restroom facilities, parking facilities, and a catch and release fishing pond.
In addition to managing the fields, the Boise Noon Optimist Club recruits and provides 300 coaches and sponsorship for approximately 8,000 football players each year. They have helped start Optimist Club football programs in Emmett, Horseshoe Bend, McCall, Mountain Home and Nampa and include private programs in Kuna, Marsing and Wood River Valley in their schedule.
The Boise Noon Optimist Club is nearing completion of the project. For the final touch, the club will develop Alumni Field and create an endowment fund to help provide scholarships so no child will be left out because of an inability to pay.
The purpose of this post is to help find and encourage all program alumni to register with the Boise Noon Optimist Youth Football program as past players, cheerleaders, and/or coaches. They want to stay in touch with you to share the success of this public-private venture that demonstrates the value of engaged community members who believe in sharing Optimist Club values with others. Please register as an alumni at this link or share this post with other so they may encourage their friends to keep connected.
Enjoy a 7 minute video about the history of the program. (YouTube)
Picture of original artwork by Ward Hooper.