| Football brings spirit to Sparta |
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By: Amelia Wigton, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view itDriving through Sparta on a Thursday night visitors may think the town is a little larger than it is. That’s because on Thursdays, the streets are busy and the convenience stores are packed with more than an additional 1,000 people who’ve come into the small town of about 1,600 for one reason: They gotta have some football.
“It’s definitely a change because there’s not been football in this community for quite sometime,” said Sparta School Superintendent Jeff Hyatt. Through the newly-formed Sparta Youth Football Association, Sparta now offers Mighty Mites, a football program for children in first through the sixth grade. In its inaugural year, Sparta had 100 children sign up and has seven teams. Sparta hosts up to 16 teams weekly at Sparta High School, bringing families from Chadwick, Ava, Fordland and Rogersville into the small community. “I always told everybody it’s like the field of dreams. If you build it they will come. And that first night it was like what I was thinking. We got it built and here they are,” said David Johnson with the Sparta Youth Football Association. “We have 100 kids and I guarantee you next year we’ll probably have 150. It’s just going to keep getting bigger and bigger. It’s a perpetual thing.” Hyatt said the atmosphere in the elementary school on game days is rewarding. “The excitement on that first day—the kids walking around the elementary with jerseys on—it was a neat sight,” Hyatt said. “You could tell it was a little different atmosphere and the kids were excited. There’s just something about a school and a community and football.” Although the school is not involved in organizing Sparta’s football program, there is a partnership between the school and the Sparta Youth Football Association. The school allows the football association to use the fields and the association is working to improve the facility. One of the first highlights of that partnership is the new lights installed on the west side of the track. “The school and the community is going to benefit from those lights that were put up,” Hyatt said. “They are sufficient lighting on the field and we hope we can double the lighting next year. The (football association), like the (Sparta) Sports League has done for years, will give things back to the school district. It’s a partnership. Being a small community we need as many partnerships like this as we can get.” Johnson said giving back to the school district is exactly what the football association plans to do. The association sells concessions during the Thursday night football games. That money will in turn purchase more equipment for the local football teams and help improve the school. “In the future we’re going to make sure our kids have the best equipment and my real goal is to start doing improvements on the new high school when we get it in November,” said Johnson, who has two boys playing Mighty Mites. And Johnson’s long-term goal of the program is to bring high school football to Sparta. “The day that we play our first football game in high school—that’s my goal,” he said. “Football brings a community together. I think it’s important for a community to keep thriving and building.” Hyatt said he can’t say whether Sparta High School will one day have a football team. However, he said having local Mighty Mites teams is definitely a step in the right direction. “This is the first step. It doesn’t mean we are going to eventually have football in our school, but it is a step in the right direction,” he said. “Football is such a unique sport. Getting kids accustomed to a full-contact sport is something that takes some time and getting used to. I just don’t know. I have had discussions with community members. It could eventually happen for Sparta.” And while no one knows if Mighty Mites will lead to a high school football team, everyone agrees that it’s a great fit for Sparta right now, especially in the tough economy. “The elementary school parking lot was completely full and cars stretched around to Oak Street,” Sparta Mayor Mike Younker said about the first football games. “The city is growing and this is just one more thing. It will benefit the park quite a bit. If Casey’s is full and selling stuff, along with the other businesses, it helps the park—and that’s outside people buying stuff that helps the park. The economy is on the verge of changing and when it does we’re going to start to grow.” Each Thursday, the town’s population nearly doubles and that translates into good news for Sparta’s economy. Johnson said having football in Sparta is a great thing for the children, families, the school and the community. “Each night we’re looking at about 2,000 people coming to our town that are going to buy gas, food, soda—they’re going to spend tons of money in our town,” Johnson said. “Everybody is going to reap the rewards from this, the entire community. It’s a win-win all the way around. It’s just a fantastic thing.” Copyright © 2009 - Christian County Headliner  |
Calendar Events
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