TOLEDO, Ohio — Scott Parker, a local father and grandfather, created Point Place Sports to give kids the opportunity to play sports without breaking their families' pockets.
Parents cough up hundreds of dollars to give their kids these opportunities, but Parker wants his program to be different.
The newest sports league in our region plans to bring that number down to zero through fundraising grants and community support.
Judging by the number of sign-ups during their first year, the plan to have an affordable athletic program is working, and registration is still open and free.
Parker is raising his grandchildren and is also blind. He said he always loved sports and as a kid, it was his escape.
Now to give his grandkids the same opportunities, he said he had to create Point Place Sports because there was no other option.
"The price to play just to sign up was just ridiculous and I knew being on disability that my wife and I couldn't do that," Parker said. "So my idea was to raise money, get grants and do things and make it where the parents don't have to pay to sign their kids up."
Parker said he's been involved with sports his whole life. Although he never got to play, he got to participate and enjoy the games in other ways.
He said no child should get left out for any reason, but he believes all too often they do when it's too expensive.
Parker said he wants to show everyone just how affordable sports can be.
Point Place Sports has officially registered 100 football players and 60 cheerleaders.
"We've had some awesome support from the community out here through businesses and some of the unions and just the financial support for this first year to get us going that has paved the way, but every one of these teams out here can do the same thing," Parker said. "You should not have to pay $200 to register your kid to play a sport. There's a $500 fee to be in the league that our football program will join. It's called the Toledo Youth Football League, but we pay that."
The program is currently working to accommodate as many kids as possible. For the rest of the year, Parker said he plans to create programs for soccer and other sports that the kids show interest in.