Will Iredell County youth rec teams be charged to play on school property?

IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. — Monday night’s school board vote is the talk of Iredell County.

On one hand, many recreational teams are wondering if they have to pay to play sports on school property. On the other hand, some young athletes are no longer allowed to compete with the teams they’ve played with for years, and it’s causing drama and confusion.

For the last ten years, David Parks has coached N.B. Mills Athletics in Iredell County.

“There is too much talent in Statesville not to play,” Parks said.

But as he enters his 11th year with the team, he’s unsure if they’ll have a league to play under. He said North Iredell Youth Athletic Association League was disbanded earlier this year. Teams N.B. Mills competed against for years will no longer play against them.

“These private leagues, they can do what they want to do, and that’s why we’re in the position we’re in,” Parks said.

American Renaissance Youth Athletic Group sent out an email saying they will no longer play against N.B. Mills in any sports. Channel 9′s Almiya White spoke with Tracy Sain, the president of the group, over the phone. He said this was due to ongoing conduct issues involving parents.

Parks said he took his concerns to Iredell-Statesville School Board, which who allows the athletic groups to use the district’s facilities for free. On Monday night, the board voted to start charging the athletic groups to practice and play on school property, but later changed their minds and said they will not implement any fees.

County Commissioner Bert Connolly said those athletic groups likely wouldn’t have been able to afford the cost.

“Some of these associations and some of the schools be paying $8,000 to $10,000 worth of fees -- that is ridiculous,” he said.

School board member Bill Howell told White off-camera that the original decision was made after he was told certain athletic teams are being excluded from playing against others.

Instead of charging a fee, the district said it’ll form a county-wide task force to discuss how to move forward.

“Myself and the county manager, and we will probably bring our parks and rec director in there as well. And we will sit down and we will look at this problem,” Connolly said.

That conversation is something Parks is depending on so his team will have a league to play under.

“It’s up to us youth organizations to keep the sportsmanship between them,” Parks said.

There’s a new league in Iredell County now called Greater Metro Youth Athletic Association. White spoke to the president of that group who said the goal was to keep the league small. The association will only have six teams in the league that will only play against each other during the upcoming football season.

(WATCH BELOW: Former Carolina Panther hosts youth football camp promoting relationship between education, sports)

Former Carolina Panther hosts youth football camp promoting relationship between education, sports

©2023 Cox Media Group