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May 16, 2012 - Vol. 106, No. 45

  THE FRANKENMUTH MS WALK . . . was held Saturday, May 12, and despite stormy conditions early was a success. Above, Frankenmuth Mayor Gary Rupprecht joins Megan Schaaf (green shirt) and MS official Lynn Kindy for the opening ceremonial ribbon cutting inside the Harvey Kern Community Pavilion. Approximately 800 persons participated, helping raise over $104,000 to date (teams have until September 30 to turn in pledges, with the goal of reaching $150,000. Michigan has one of the highest incidence rates of multiple Sclerosis (MS) in the country, with more than 18,000 living with the disease in the state. For more information, visit www.walkmsmi.org. (News photo)

Youth sports facility could be another draw for town

by Frankenmuth Youth Sports Association 

  Nobody is quite sure when the idea first formed, other than whoever claims it is probably lying.

  “The idea of a sports facility in Frankenmuth has come to any parent who has driven their athlete all over God’s green earth to play,” Scott Zimmer said. “I have to believe that any parent who saw all the kids playing, all the families cheering and all the money generated had to say to themselves, ‘We could do this in Frankenmuth … in spades.’”

  Zimmer is a member of the Frankenmuth Youth Sports Association, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization interested in building a 60,000-square foot, two-story, indoor recreation facility with courts, lobby (?), lockers, offices, a concession stand, two-lane walking track, community meeting area, 16 outdoor athletic fields, walking/running trail and barrier-free playground.

  The $7.25 million facility would be located on 47 acres east of Kroger and west of Frank Road, with access from a Schleier Road extension east of M-83.

  To raise the money, the Frankenmuth Youth Sports Association will target $2.95 million in donations, awards and grants. To reach the final total, the association will ask for approval of a bond initiative on the Aug. 7 ballot in the City of Frankenmuth and the Nov. 6 ballot in Frankenmuth Township.  This initiative will raise approximately $3.625 million in the city.

  As Frankenmuth parents and coaches bumped into each other during trips to other sports facilities for leagues and tournaments, the idea began to gain momentum.

  “We would be sitting there together at a tournament in Midland and see all the kids playing basketball on the courts … we’d be upstairs looking at all the families there to watch their kids,” Steve Kueffner said. “We just started talking about how much potential something like this would have in Frankenmuth.

  “The idea was never about how much money this could make, although there is that potential. It was about how much good this would do for the Frankenmuth community, from generating tourist revenue to part-time jobs for our kids to giving our kids a place to play.”

  Zimmer’s light bulb went on when he was sitting in the stands before a youth baseball game in Millington.

  “We had to get there an hour early so the kids could warm up, so I sat in the stands to watch the first game,” Zimmer said. “I was listening to two dads talk. One asked where the family was, and the other said they stayed in their hotel in Frankenmuth. They’d rather swim or shop in Frankenmuth than watch baseball.

  “Frankenmuth was being used as a draw for a Millington tournament. I just saw the potential of having something like that in Frankenmuth.”

So Zimmer talked to his wife, Dawn Zimmer, who Scott Zimmer says, “runs and talks with a lot of guys who are coaches.”

  “I was running with Dawn and she started talking about what Scott had said,” Jeff Laux said. “It wasn’t anything new. As coaches, we were always bumping into each other on the road and the topic always came up. But it just added to the thought process that this was something that should be done.”

  So a group of coaches and parents met to talk about the possibilities and how to proceed.

Fortunately, they were not the first to come up with the idea or even the first to take action.

  “Back in 2001, a group of parents and coaches formed the Frankenmuth Youth Sports Association,” Zimmer said. “Members included Vicky Hayden, Daryl Jensen, Cathy Krueger and Randy Norton as officers. Eventually the association went dormant, but not before they did some very important work.”

  The original Frankenmuth Youth Sports Association filed the paperwork to become a non-profit organization. When the new FYSA board formed, it merely had to pay minimal back fees to reactivate the non-profit association.

  “They did all the leg work and made it easy for us,” Zimmer said. “Their work back in 2001 made it possible for us to get to this point. I’m not sure we would have been able to do it without them. They were people who had a passion for youth sports and for Frankenmuth. They saw it’s potential.

  “To say this is our idea is unfair. There were a lot of people involved, even people who may no longer live in Frankenmuth. It is one of those projects that will help everybody, from the homeowner to the schools to the kids to the senior citizens to the area businesses.

  “People will look at it as a way to draw more tourists to the hotels and restaurants, but this is going to help Frankenmuth residents more than it will help anyone’s business.”