Young Tigers, Hire Park BMX Seeing GrowthYoung Tigers Football & Cheerleading and Hire Park BMX are two big pieces of the Warsaw Parks System.
Tuesday, representatives of both organizations talked to the Warsaw Parks Board about what they do and offer.
“Record numbers this year and it’s a real exciting thing to see,” Dave McCool, Young Tigers, told the Board. “We have 226 football players this year and 130 cheerleaders. So, the cheerleading is closing in on us. It’s pretty exciting times.”
He said he thinks there’s multiple reasons for that.
“One is, I think we really strive to do the right things with the kids. Another huge part of that is all of you sitting here at the Parks Department. The visibility we have down at Fribley Field is unreal, and we just want to keep adding to it and making it nicer and get that draw going on,” McCool said.
The third part of the equation, he said, is having Warsaw Community High School football coach Bart Curtis in town. McCool said Curtis does a “fantastic” job with the high school kids.
“We work hand-in-hand with him, so that’s a huge part, I think, of our success and why are numbers are really going crazy at this point,” McCool said.
Twenty years ago when Young Tigers started, he said they had one team and 24 kids. He reiterated that it was an exciting time and they owed a lot of gratitude to the Parks Department.
Young Tigers volunteers operate the concession stand at Central Park when the Christmas lights are up and on during December. McCool said Curtis is now sending high school boys down to help with that. “It’s a really cool thing and we just love being a part of this community,” he said.
Board member Jill Beehler asked if he had an estimate on how many students went through the Young Tigers program and now play on the high school team. McCool said he hadn’t thought about those numbers, but they could probably come up with them pretty easily.
“Twenty years, a lot of kids, I do know that. And with 350-plus kids this year, we’re being allowed to hopefully affect their lives in the right manner. Teach positive things. We kind of view it as, it’s not just football we’re teaching. Hopefully, we’re teaching some life lessons along with that,” McCool said.
He said their equipment is “second to none literally. We think our kids are worth putting in the best equipment that we possibly can.”
Young Tigers made some strides this year with getting six helmets - at $400 apiece - that allow the coaching staff to tweak their coaching.
“Because it’s a computerized system within the helmet, so we can actually read, you know, are there big hits going on, are we doing the right things as coaches to take care of our kids?” McCool said.
He said Young Tigers appreciated the opportunity the Parks Department has given them.
“When we came in years ago and pitched the idea of building a football field, where it’s at now (on East Market Street), they said, ‘We’d love to have a football field there but it’s not in our budget.’ We said if you approve us, we’ll make it happen. We will work around the clock and that’s what we’ve done. We don’t ever really stop, so this is the off-season, but it’s not really the off-season for us because we’re planning for next year,” McCool stated.
He said they take great pride in doing anything they can to give back to the community and to the Parks Department.
Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer, who has coached for Young Tigers and serves as the treasurer now, said one thing he likes about the program is that so many give their dedicated time and are unpaid, but yet they’re there every night.
“Every kid gets to play. It’s mandatory that they play and they play so many plays, so many downs, so it’s not like they come and sit on the sidelines while the ‘good guys’ play. Everybody is being taught. Everybody gets to experience it,” Plummer said, adding that he thinks McCool and his staff are doing an amazing job out there.
“I just think it’s a good thing,” he said.
Park Board member Michelle Boxell asked if there were both boys and girls in the cheerleading program. McCool said they’ve had boys and girls, though it’s predominantly girls.
Boxell said there’s always male cheerleaders at the college level so it was nice to see them at all levels.
“We don’t get a lot of them out doing that, but the ones that do we definitely allow. We don’t discourage any kid from participating in our program,” McCool said.
Kyle Tom, a member of the Hire Park BMX board, spoke in place of Manager Dan Rumple who had a prior commitment.
Hire Park BMX is a 501(c)3, Tom said, and, “We are excited to be a part of the Parks Department initiative here. We try to get any kid out. I say kid, but there’s actually ladies and gentlemen older than I am out there falling and actually having a very good time.”
An assortment of people come out to the park, coming from Michigan, Hobart, Fort Wayne, Kokomo, Wabash, Rochester and other places.
“A lot of people come here just for the purse satisfaction that Hire Park is one of the best parks around,” Tom said.
In northern Indiana, he said Hire Park is ranked sixth “in all of the state,” above Fort Wayne, Hammond and others. “So we’re very excited about that. And a lot of that has to do with our manager. Dan Rumple is amazing. He’s also our speaker, he’s out there announcing on a daily basis.”
On average on Saturdays, Tom said the park has 38 riders, with a little less than that on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Tuesdays, they have practice, with races on Thursdays and Saturdays. He said they picked up 10 new full-time riders this year, down from the previous five-year average.
“A lot of that is attributed to, it’s not cheap to get into. With the economy dropping, we’re seeing a lag with that,” Tom said.
As an example, he said a true BMX bike can cost anywhere from $500 to $4,000. “So it’s not cheap to get into,” he said.
They had 62 renewals this year and that’s just for Hire Park.
“One of our biggest races was 313 people, so imagine trying to find spots in the parking lot for 313 people, so that was a great ride. We did really well on that,” Tom said.
The largest “moto” the park has had was 210 riders. A moto is one race.
“We’ve also done a lot of things to the track this year that kind of draws people in,” Tom said. “For instance, there’s four different straights at the track, so we redid No. 3 and No. 4. Added a few more challenges to the track, which people, from what I hear, love.”
He said they also are putting in a timing system, and is currently three-quarters of the way installed. That is expected to be up and running by May.
Tom said they feel really confident that this next year will be even better than the previous year. He said they really appreciate everything the Parks Department has done.
Plummer told Tom, “We’re proud to have the Warsaw BMX in the Park System. ... To have something like that in our Park System is amazing. I know it is one of the top tracks in the state. I hear that, not just from Warsaw but surrounding communities. What you guys are doing is a great thing and we’re blessed to have you in the Parks System, that’s for sure.”
