HYA has operated a youth baseball program for over 25 years and has had tremendous success both with the sheer number of players that pass through our program but also with some very successful teams, in both recreational and advanced baseball programs.
 

We enjoy a unique position in our community in that we are the only private organization operating a youth sports program in a city park. In fact, Bell Memorial Park, with just four baseball fields, is the only developed park land in our city of 22,000 residents. Historically, HYA operated this program at the park under the supervision of Fulton County, and only in December of 2006, did the City of Milton (www.cityofmiltonga.us) take ownership of the current park.
 

Since that time, HYA has worked diligently with the City to operate our youth sports program at the same level of service and without any substantial financial support from the City. For example, while operating under county support, the county was responsible for park maintenance (including cutting outfield grass and maintaining the infield dirt) and since the City was incorporated, HYA has taken over all costs associated with managing the park inside the fences and last year alone we spent over $60,000 on field maintenance. 
 

In order to keep our registration rates competitive with other programs, we have stretched our all volunteer board and families to help in the park and to participate in various fundraising programs – of which every dollar is put back into park improvements.
 

To help you understand the size and scope of our program some registration history of our past Spring Seasons is listed below.
 

 

 

Our program stretches the capacity of the park, since we have only four fields.  We squeeze more teams and games into our park than all the surrounding baseball programs in the area. In fact, most baseball programs operate with a 10 team per field average and we have historically exceeded that average with as many as 20 teams per field.
 

Our program is built, not just on the success of the leadership of the Board of Directors, but also the over 120 volunteers that coach and the team moms. In addition, we also have a very successful youth umpire program for our coach pitch leagues (ages 4 to 8) where young men and women, often get their first job, share their passion for baseball and learn the responsibility of employment.
 

At the end of the day, our program is built on commitment, leadership, and sportsmanship at all levels of the program. We rely on our volunteers but we also need the support of our members, to help us achieve our fundraising goals to continue to operate and improve both our program and our city park. In case you are wondering, a few of our next desired park improvements include; installing a roof over the existing batting cages so we can have batting practice when the weather is uncooperative.
 

We thank you for your interest in Hopewell Youth Association and look forward to seeing you at the fields!
 

HYA Board of Directors