YLM PROFILE PETER SCALORA
Peter Scalora, President Your Youth League: Mountain Top League Your League’s Website: www.mountaintopleague.com Town Name: West Orange, NJ Your League’s Sport(s): Basketball, Baseball, Rec Soccer, Travel Soccer, Softball, Ice Hockey Number of Players in Your League: 3,100 Your League’s Annual Budget: $490,000 Non-profit or for-profit? Non-profit
YOUR STORY: How and when did you first get involved in your league? I have been involved in Mountain Top League since I was 6. I’m 48 now. That makes 42 years of continuous involvement. I literally grew up in this youth league. My friend’s dad was my first coach. And I never appreciated what hard work it was to run the league until I did it myself. I started as a travel soccer trustee for 6 years, then I joined the Executive Board. Sports you played as a youth? Soccer, Baseball, Basketball, and Football Favorite part of being a YLM? It’s a thrill to witness the progress you see in a youth sports program. For example, start on the first day of basic girls’ softball. It’s disorganized and the players have zero skills. Then quickly, the team and players start getting competitive. Eventually, the team and league start running like a finely tuned engine. We took softball over from the town’s recreation department, which is run by paid administrators. When our group of volunteers
took the sport over, our focus was on making it better, on putting a better product on the field and making it run much more smoothly. We wanted to do it better. It was the pride of us volunteers versus the guys paid by the town. And we succeeded. Even though we’re unpaid, we met the increasing expectation of parents. We did it well. And we’ve had such a huge impact on the kids—they got better as a team and individuals because of us. Least favorite part of being a YLM? Dealing with people who just don’t get the process. It’s not about whether your kid is the star of the game or hits a homer. Youth sports is about a kid’s development in life. People who are in it for the glory are in it for the wrong reason. Also, I am fighting against sports specialization, which I think is leading to the demise of the youth sports movement. Kids need to experience multiple sports. One thing you would change about your league? Would love for the league to be fully funded, so everyone plays
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for free. While we give some scholarships, to do more would require a lot more fundraising, which I find really hard. Some kids just don’t sign up because it costs money. Proudest moment as a YLM so far? It was recently during our annual tournament. My 3 kids, who are now 17, 15 and 12, all played in the league. But on that day, they were not playing, they were all volunteers. They were paying it forward. That moment transcended the sport, it was life coming full circle. I knew at that moment that I had planted the youth league manager seed in all of them, and the seed was taking root. Best single piece of advice for other YLMs? You must have an open mind and remain focused on the long term, what’s good for the league and the future of sports in your community. Not about who wins today’s game. Sports personality you most admire? My Mountain Top League colleague Steve Quirk. He’s not a sport celebrity. He’s just someone you can count on to do anything for the league, any time. He’s the epitome of what youth sports is about. Favorite team? The New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League. Hockey is the ultimate team sport. No single player is ever dominant. And the players are unassuming, unlike other pro sports.