About | Youth S'portstock

The story of us

About Us

“Every Kid Deserves Access to Sporting Goods, Regardless of Affordability”

Mission

Youth S’portstock gives all kids the lifelong benefits of sport and physical activity by providing equipment, apparel and footwear to those most in need.

At that moment I noticed they were using a soccer ball to play basketball

Let’s just say it all started during a Mission Trip to help rebuild a village called Villa Esperanza in Puerto Rico, of which had 130 homes standing before Hurricane Maria and 7 of the 130 homes barely survived the aftermath.
During this trip I promised 2 teenagers in this hard hit village, I’d get a couple basket balls shipped to them. I stopped to play basketball with them, on a dirt driveway which had a portable rim that would break every 5 shots or so.

At that moment I noticed they were using a soccer ball to play basketball. I quickly realized it was one if not the only sporting good in the whole village. Soon after keeping my promise, I start a fundraising campaign to get sporting goods to the youth of Puerto Rico. After raising the first allotment of funds, I soon realized it was extremely expensive to ship supplies to Puerto Rico (for many reasons including the Jones Act). So I decided to get FUNDS to a church organization in PR thru some of my contacts in Convoy of Hope.

With that said, I made a decision to get the acquired sporting goods to local kids here in CNY; and Youth S’portstock was unexpectedly born and has become a bit more involved than I planned (Being that I’ve been a full time single father, who works a full time job and just married the absolute love of my life on May 4,2019.

But when I see the smiles on these kids faces when they get sporting goods in their hands (especially NEW), it inspires me to keep going. And God gives me the strength to persevere.
I remember being that kid at home who used things from balled up socks with duck tape to substitute having an actual football… to using the “No Parking” sign on the street as the basket that counted as 1 point when ever one would hit the sign with whatever ball we had access to at the time.

Our only access to somewhat appropriate sporting goods were at youth organizations or school. And even then, there either weren’t enough for all of the kids to enjoy, or the sporting goods were so worn/outdated they were rendered useless. How can I stop now?!

Congratulations Sam & Jamie

May 4, 2019

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Access to Sporting Goods is an Antidote to Idleness… Idleness Breeds Unhealthy Activity

Sam Dancil

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Why we do What We Do

Youth sports participation rates have been in a steady decline across the nation over the past decade. Budget cuts to athletic departments and physical education programs in schools throughout the country are increasing as well. As a result, more and more kids are forced to sit on the sidelines each year and the immense benefits that youth sports can provide often go unrealized. According to sport and physical health studies*:

Only 6 US States

currently require physical education in every grade level from K-12

48% of High Schools

in the U.S. do not have any type of physical education program

28% of kids aged 6-12

and 19% of kids aged 13-17 were not involved in any sort of consistent physical activity in 2018

1/3 of the nation’s youth

Per the Centers for Disease Control, childhood obesity rates have more than doubled in children – and more than quadrupled in adolescents – over the past 30 years, leaving more than one-third of the nation’s youth overweight or obese

*National Association for Sport and Physical Education, American Heart Association, Sports and Fitness Industry Association and the Physical Activity Council.