University Place might get a youth sports league. Not everyone is happy
After more than a decade without a city-affiliated youth sports league, the University Place City Council wants to enter into an agreement with the YMCA to offer soccer, T-ball, baseball, basketball, volleyball and flag football as early as this summer.
Not everyone is on board. Some independent nonprofits, operating their own sports leagues in city limits, say the agreement would force them to compete for players and field time when they already have a system that works.
The council is expected to vote on the issue April 6. Under the proposed agreement, the YMCA would provide sports programming and staffing. Activities for youth ages 5-12 would occur at University Place parks facilities and University Place School District facilities. University Place residents would receive priority for registration, and non-UP and YMCA members would pay an additional rate.
If approved, skills clinics would start as early as this summer, according to the city. Clinics for basketball would take place in summer 2026 and spring 2027. Soccer clinics would happen in summer 2026 and winter 2027. Volleyball clinics would take place in summer 2026 and fall 2026. It would cost $65 for UP residents and YMCA members and $130 for non-residents.
A new basketball league would start in the fall, volleyball and flag football would take place in winter 2027, according to the city. Soccer and T-ball/coach pitch would happen in spring 2027. It would cost $95 per UP resident or YMCA member and $190 for non-residents.
Field space, membership concerns
At the study session on Monday, University Place council members said they were excited about the partnership. In November, nearly 100 people, including families with children, crowded the council chambers to support the University Place Soccer Club (UPSC), which was concerned about a competing program harming its ability to provide soccer in the area.
UP director of Public Works, Jack Ecklund, told the council Monday that the YMCA agreed to push some of the sports to be off-season, at least the first year, after UPSC voiced concerns about competing for field time. The school district is also “committed to make sure that we can find spaces for all community groups,” Ecklund said.
On Wednesday, when asked if University Place considered partnering with clubs like UPSC instead of the YMCA, Ecklund told The News Tribune that “what we’re looking for is a comprehensive recreational program that can [have] multiple sports.”
“We wouldn’t anticipate [kids] all of a sudden leaving the soccer club and going to the UP Y recreation program,” he said. “This isn’t looking at trying to displace them or shift them over to the Y’s program. It’s really more about creating additional access and opportunities for kids that aren’t being served right now.”
The News Tribune spoke with UPSC president Eric Aravena and UPSC vice president Stefanie Boldt after the meeting Monday. Although Aravena said the YMCA’s choice to not host soccer in the fall (the typical season they offer soccer) relieves their concerns with field space and enrollment competition, “The program overall, I still have a hard time with.”
Aravena said it’s important to bring youth sports back to University Place, but he is concerned there won’t be enough kids to participate in the league to play more than a few teams all season.
UPSC had 683 kids enroll in its recreational fall soccer season and usually has about 12 teams in the spring because they include kids from Lakewood and Fircrest, Boldt said. The nonprofit is run by volunteers and pays the school district tens of thousands of dollars each year to use district fields, she said. Registration costs for the leagues are lower or on par with what the YMCA is proposing, Boldt said.
Although the city said there would be enough field space for everyone, “at the end of the day, there’s still a pecking order,” Aravena said. “They’re bumping us down in the pecking order by signing the contract to the YMCA, I think.”
Boldt said the UPSC already gets bumped from fields where it was scheduled to play, especially at the high school which is the biggest and has turf. During the fall and winter months, only two fields in University Place have lights, she said.
“I am not against bringing recreational sports back into UP. I’m against bringing it back in this capacity,” Aravena said. “[With] how it’s set up, I will not take my kids from the leagues they’re playing in, and I don’t think many will. Not enough, I don’t think, to make it successful.”
The News Tribune reached out to University Place Vikings Basketball/Little Viks Hoopsters, the local youth basketball league, for their perspective on the issue. President Tyler Robertson said the program serves more than 100 kids in 3rd to 8th grade, with 11 teams this season (which runs from October to March).
Robertson said University Place’s choice to stop offering youth sports is why Little Viks Hoopsters started in the first place. He said the council’s partnership with the YMCA shouldn’t affect them, as they are a more competitive feeder program for University Place school basketball teams. Robertson said he just wants as many kids in the community to play sports as possible, learning the benefits of teamwork, work ethic, rules and discipline.
“It’s good for their bodies, it’s good for their minds, it’s good for their souls,” he said.
This story was originally published March 18, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
