Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Youth Sports Grant topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Casper staff outline NRPA grant-funded three-week "Girls Sports Discovery Camp" for 2026 if awarded
Summary
City recreation staff told councilors they will apply for a National Recreation and Park Association grant to fund a three-week Girls Sports Discovery Camp in Casper, including hiring youth sport leads and partnering with local and national training organizations if the award is granted.
Baylor Hellman, a recreation staff member for the City of Casper, told city councilors the recreation department will apply for a National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) grant to fund a three-week Girls Sports Discovery Camp scheduled to run June 1, 2026, if the city receives the award.
Hellman said the camp would introduce participants to multiple sports in a first-week “sports sampler,” then let each participant choose a sport to continue developing skills in during weeks two and three, which will conclude with a peer tournament. “This camp breaks traditional barriers to access by giving participants a multitude of opportunities with creative freedom to choose what they want to participate in,” Hellman said during the council presentation.
The department plans three age cohorts — 8–10, 11–13 and 14–17 — and aims to hire at least five youth sport lead positions using grant funds to run the program and related year-round activities. Hellman told councilors that the YMCA and Boys & Girls Club in Casper already serve many 8-and-under children, and the proposed camp is intended to target older youth the city’s staff believes are underserved.
Staff outlined a tentative implementation schedule that would begin the grant’s period of performance in January 2026, open the hiring process with job descriptions by Feb. 1, train staff with partner organizations by April 1 and start camp June 1. Hellman said the department plans to partner with Children’s Place Counseling for youth behavioral training and with the NFHS Learning Center for fundamentals-of-coaching instruction.
Councilors asked about the durability of the positions beyond the first summer and the upfront cost of onboarding new staff. A recreation staff member said the department relies on seasonal assistant recreation coordinator positions with project codes that allow those employees to be moved among work groups throughout the year. The staff estimate for initial onboarding and training of the new positions is roughly $14,000–$15,000 for the first year, Hellman said; ongoing training costs thereafter were expected to be smaller.
Staff also said Community Recreation Foundation (CRF) is an anticipated local funding partner should the program continue after the first year. Hellman and other staff emphasized that the program’s continuation would depend on securing the NRPA grant and demonstrating successful first-year results to local partners.
No formal vote or action was recorded on the grant application during the portion of the meeting in the transcript; staff sought council concurrence to proceed with application and planning steps.
The proposal includes a youth advisory board in which up to three representatives from each age group would provide real-time feedback on program delivery. If funded, staff said they would incorporate three of NRPA’s five youth sports framework components into the program design.
