Keeping score on our local youth, adult sports

The fall season arrives in a matter of days, but I am always reminded of it much sooner when my boys begin practicing for tackle football.

Of course, I have plenty of friends and relatives who are feeling the same fall sports euphoria as their kids gear up for football, volleyball, soccer or they, themselves, play in an adult sports league.
 

There’s a strong, loyal following behind many community youth and adult sports leagues in town.
 
And I am hoping a newly created Bakersfield web site will help support that following by allowing local sports teams, coaches, parents and players to share their accomplishments — scores, standings, highlights and more — with each other.
 
The web site, www.mybakersfieldsports.com, is being sponsored by Mercado Nuevo, a subsidiary of The Bakersfield Californian, and operated by Community Sports Desk, a national sports software and service company headquartered in Kenosha, Wis. We are one of about 50 newspapers nationally that has partnered with Community Sports Desk.
 
There is no cost to join, just a desire to promote your athlete or league in a positive way. Advertising will support the site.
 
The hope is to spotlight our local adult and youth athletes through the web site, with a possibility of running many of these contributions in our citizen journalism publication, The Bakersfield Voice, or on The Bakersfield Californian’s community sports page.
 
The Voice, which is a part of Mercado Nuevo, is published weekly and delivered to approximately 70,000 homes in the west side of town. In addition, there are a number of Voice rack locations, and it is also delivered to some elementary schools.
 
Meanwhile, The Californian currently runs a community sports page on Tuesdays.
On that page, we run announcements of upcoming team or league tryouts, registration information, results, calendar events and/or team and individual accomplishments from the community.
 
The local sports information posted on MyBakersfieldSports.com will mainly come from coaches or team representatives.

That brings me to my next point.
 
Currently, we are looking for coaches, leagues, sports groups, parents or players who would like to participate in My Bakersfield Sports. The site is designed for a variety of sports.
 
Community Sports Desk, along with some of our help, will host meetings to train interested groups and individuals on how to submit stories, photos, stats and more.
 

Those interested are being asked to call Marisol Sorto at 661-716-8640 to be added to the community participant list. You can also email her at msorto@bakersfield.com and indicate “My Bakersfield Sports” in the subject line.
 
Whether you are in part of an adult track group, a youth soccer league, or a community rec group, this site could be a great way to share your team’s information.