We’re Gifting $25,000 to This Life-Changing Youth Sports Program

The nonprofit Youth Sports Alliance charges scholarship recipients $50 for five weeks of ski gear, transportation, and lessons in Utah’s Wasatch Valley. Sounds like a steal, right? That’s what YSA executive director Emily Fisher thought, too, when she first arrived on staff six years ago. Then she got to work.

It was 2017, and Fisher was at an introductory meeting, collecting pre-season fees for the upcoming ski program. YSA offers more than 100 sports programs for kids in the greater Park City area, including mountain biking, figure skating, and camping, but the “Learn to Ski” program is by far its most popular. While most participants pay full price—anywhere from $210 to $260 per season for most students—about one in five comes on scholarship. That means five weeks of ski instruction for just a nominal, $50 commitment. Or, at least, Fisher thought it was nominal.

That night, several parents asked Fisher for payment plans on that $50. That’s when she realized that some of these folks didn’t have anything to spare. Every dollar was going to rent, groceries, or other essentials. And yet they were willing to do whatever they could to give their kids the opportunity to ski.

“It’s so important to these families,” Fisher says. “They want to see their child involved in a sport, even one they might not know much about.”

Since 2017, Fisher and her team have doubled down on their mission to make outdoor sports as accessible as possible. That’s an objective we at Outside share—which is why YSA caught our eye when we went through the most recent batch of applicants for the 2023 Defender Service Awards.

The Defender Service Awards is an annual contest founded by Land Rover, presented by Chase, and designed to benefit hardworking nonprofits around the nation. For the last two years, Outside Interactive, Inc., the parent company of Outside magazine, has been a category sponsor, and in 2023 sponsored the Outdoor Accessibility and Education category. The stakes this year were high: Six winners would each take home $32,500 in cash, as well as a brand-new Land Rover Defender 130. Those were resources that YSA could really use.

Park City is a resort town, and the cost of living is inordinately high. The median price of a single-family home is now nearly $3.6 million, making it the most expensive housing market in the state of Utah. Most wage workers have to commute from neighboring counties. And many families who do live in Park City have a tough time covering rent, let alone lift tickets for their kids.

Sheccid Mejia Villanueva was one of those kids. When she was seven years old, her mother, who worked 9-to-5 cleaning houses, registered Mejia Veillanueva for YSA’s Learn to Ski program. At first, Mejia Villanueva didn’t want to do it; she was afraid she wouldn’t belong. But ultimately her mom convinced her to give it a try. That winter, Mejia Villanueva learned to carve turns while her mother worked. By the end of that first season, she’d fallen in love with the sport and found skiing to be a great equalizer between kids of different backgrounds.

“I gained a lot of confidence,” Mejia Villanueva says. “I learned to try, and to fall, and to always get back up again.” She took that confidence with her to high school and beyond, taking advanced placement chemistry courses and becoming captain of her school’s cheerleading squad. She ultimately earned a full scholarship to the University of Utah, where she’s now working toward her business degree.

“I like to say that YSA planted the seed for all of those successes,” Mejia Villanueva says.

That’s the power outdoor sports can have. Studies show that playing outside can dramatically increase kids’ confidence, improve their focus, and strengthen their relationships. Sports get kids away from their screens and help them develop healthy habits. Other research shows that kids who engage in outdoor play often do better in school and may develop more robust critical thinking skills.

“Participating in sports and being outside is beneficial to all kids,” Fisher says. “The friendships kids make while being outside, being active, and doing hard things together—that’s really the secret sauce to life.”

While YSA’s scholarship funding may have helped Mejia Villanueva get started in winter sports, money isn’t the only piece of the puzzle. Many Park City families also lack the time or an appropriate vehicle to drive their kids up to the mountains on weekends.

“When we offer transportation, our scholarship participation rate is one in five,” Fisher says. “When we don’t, it falls to one in 19.”

But providing program transportation isn’t cheap. Each year, the nonprofit spends about $100,000 schlepping kids around the Wasatch Range—its biggest single line item. So, when Fisher learned that Land Rover was giving away a Defender 130, she jumped at the chance to apply. At the time, YSA was shelling out for more than 100 private vehicle rentals each year. Having their own Defender would drastically cut down on the number of rentals required—freeing up thousands of dollars in budget and giving YSA more flexibility in shuttling students and gear to the trailhead on their own schedule.

This year’s application involved a video submission and a competitive community voting period. During that time, the Park City community turned up in force. For weeks, Fisher bumped into friends and neighbors who said they were voting daily and following the nonprofit’s progress. Friends from all over the country texted and emailed to share their support. Still, by the time the voting period ended, the YSA crew had no idea how they’d fare.

On the night of the awards, YSA Development Director Ashley Laasko and the rest of the YSA staff huddled over the livestream with nervous anticipation. When YSA was announced as one of the six winners, the room erupted with shouts of joy.

“It was a total surprise,” Laasko says. “We were shocked. Lots of cheering. Lots of tears. It was incredible.”

As part of the winnings, YSA will take home $5,000 from presenting sponsor Chase Bank and $2,500 from premier sponsor Warner Bros Discovery, along with $25,000 from Outside Interactive, Inc. And YSA’s transportation needs are getting a huge boost with the custom Land Rover Defender 130, which they’ll use to shuttle participants and equipment to program sites. The money they save in vehicle rentals will go back into their scholarship pool—helping more students enjoy the outdoors at low cost.

“Transportation was always one of the biggest challenges for YSA, and this opportunity will help that,” Mejia Villanueva says. “I’m excited to see how much YSA continues to grow, both now and for future generations.”