Happy post-Super Bowl week! Now that the big game is behind us, you can focus on yours again. Here’s a roundup of the most important stories in youth sports right now — like NBA’s All-Star 2024 youth sports initiative, sports betting, referee news, and rec sports:

News

1. The group of homeowners who sued a youth baseball complex for being “a public nuisance” withdrew their lawsuit.

2. Adidas is empowering the next generation of youth athletes through a $1 million grant to Boys & Girls Clubs of America to allocate across clubs representing majority under-resourced Black and Latinx communities.

3. [VIDEO] A 10-year-old boy with Down syndrome scores a buzzer beater in Glen Falls.

4. Dove is teaming up with Kylie Kelce for their Body Confident Sport program — an initiative offering coaches digital tools designed to foster body positivity among 11 to 17-year-old girls.

5. EL1 Sports is launching the Alliance Performance Center NoCo in Colorado in partnership with the Alliance Fastpitch to support the development of new Colorado USA Softball sanctioned tournaments.

6. As part of NBA All-Star 2024, the NBA, PacersSports & Entertainment, and the NBA All-Star 2024 Host Committee will serve Indiana through more than 50 social impact and youth basketball events over the course of five days that will focus on food insecurity, education, youth development, inclusion and more.

7. Experts from across sport, tech, and investment gave their views on trends to look out for over the next 12 months — which include wearables, women’s sports and youth sports growth and consolidation, and more.

8. The Jacksonville Jaguars celebrated National Girls and women in Sports Day by announcing the Dream Big Scholarship — a $3,000 award to three female flag to tackle football players graduation from a Florida high school.

9. The referee shortage forges on across the country — with parent behavior and youth sports events in Florida as well as South Dakota, making it increasingly difficult for organizations to find referees.

10. Placing sports bets has never been easier, and as a result the number of adolescents betting has exploded in Massachusetts.

11. [VIDEO] Check out this Super Bowl commercial filmed at one of our partner’s facilities!

This Weekend’s Wins

1. New York Edge MS 127 Knights won the Middle School Co-Ed Volleyball Championship!

2. Texas Legacy Volleyball 18 Elite won the Salt Lake City Showdown this weekend. Plus, 12 of their players committed to playing collegiate volleyball on Wednesday!

3. Congrats Absolute Volleyball 18 Black for taking the second seed in the Gold Bracket at NCVA Power League 2!

4. February Fiesta was a success for Broken Arrow Volleyball, with BAVC 12s bringing home second, BAVC U14 Boys and BAVC 15s bringing home silver, BAVC Boys bringing home gold, BAVC 17s bringing home Gold, and BAVC 14s making into to the Gold Bracket.

5. Congratulations Team 91 Jersey Lobsters for taking home the hardware at the Capelli Sport Complex 3/4 Grade Winter League!

6. Texas 1 Volleyball 14 Navy, 14 Cobalt, and 14 Grey were all winners at the TOV Challenge this weekend!

7. Centercourt Lacrosse Club’s Alyssa Costagliola committed to Kean University!

8. Crossfire VBC 15ST1, 13ST1, 14T1, and 17BT1 all earned bids this weekend!

9. Congrats Gametime Rebels Volleyball Club on winning the Lori Richard Memorial Tournament 16 Gold Bracket!

10. Nice work winning the Super Bowl Classic Tourney, Athletics Mercado 12U!

11. SO many TAV Houston teams won their tournaments this weekend, including — 15 Navy, 11 Adidas, 16 Edge, 12 Adidas, 13 Adidas, 16 Blue, 14 Molten, 12 Blue, 15 Molten, 16 Edge, 12 Molten, and 15 Royal.

12. Shoutout to the SD Network Basketball 7th Grade Girls on winning the 2024 Kings & Queens of the Courts Tourney this weekend!

13. Vipers Hockey Club Peewee Major won the CSDHL League Championship this weekend! Plus, Midget U16 took second place in the CSDHL League.

14. Congrats Synergy Volleyball 14 Hurricane, 14 Typhoon, BVC 14–2, and 13 Lightning on all your wins of the 14s Super this weekend!

Don’t forget to tag us @LeagueApps if we missed your team’s win!

Social Spotlight

This mom’s TikTok is starting a convo about the importance of rec sports.

Resources

1. 16 Tips for the First-Time Coach

Subscribe to the Youth Sports Highlight Reel to get the top youth sports headlines of the week sent to your inbox each week!