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By MICHELLE LOVE | Staff Writer

HELENA – At the Dec. 13 Helena City Council meeting, Councilmember Leigh Hulsey made special note of the considerable increase in youths signing up for team sports compared to 2020.

“With parks and rec, they are in the middle of basketball season,” Hulsey said. “Last year we had 120 sign up, and this year we had 170.”

Hulsey said COVID-19 had a tremendous impact on the number of individuals who signed up for sports. For example, last year there weren’t enough people who signed up for fall soccer to even form teams. This year, there were 185 people who played fall soccer.

“As they wrapped up football, they had 110 football players, and I always find this comical, but we usually do have more cheerleaders so we had 120 cheerleaders,” Hulsey said laughing. “I always love that there are more cheerleaders than football players.”

Hulsey said the spike in sports sign ups is a positive thing for the city and that the city is very grateful to the Parks and Recreation Department for their hard work.

“It is such a blessing to see youth sport involvement skyrocketing right now,” Hulsey said. “Our Parks and Recreation Department is working hard to serve the families in Helena. I am proud of the work Bill Miller and his team have done. I’d encourage even more families to take a look at youth sports in Helena. With our city’s rapid growth, I know our Parks and Recreation Department will continue to innovate and expand to ensure we have a top-notch offering for our citizens.”

Registration for baseball and softball and soccer opens up Dec. 31, and interested parties can register at Cityofhelena.org.