The Libertyville Boys Club (LBC) has been around for decades, dating all the way back to 1933. LBC is a not-for-profit organization that serves as a way for young boys and girls to play football and be physically active. The program features cheer teams as well, in order to further the feeling of a high school football game. Despite its enduring success throughout the years, participation numbers in recent times have generally been declining as stated by Kevin Scott, current president of Libertyville Boys Club, “The numbers are down to about 240 kids, so teams are now travel teams.”
LBC has traditionally been divided up into two groups: the travel teams and house teams. The travel teams, as the name suggests, journey around Lake County and play against other towns’ youth programs. The LBC travel teams act as a Libertyville Wildcat affiliate and feeder team, sporting orange and black colors and the Wildcat mascot. The house teams exclusively play at the two football fields at Butler Park every Saturday morning, with games rotating in and out. However, the house league was discontinued in 2012 due to the decline in enrollment within the program according to Mr. Scott.
To make the travel teams, a player needs to avoid getting cut by the coaches during tryouts. If one was cut, he was then placed into the house league, where kids could develop, hone their skills, and try out again the following season. Mr. Scott, touched on the topic of not making the team, “The kids who didn’t make the travel teams got together and played against each other on their house league teams.”
The declining numbers may in part be caused by the fear of potential injuries. The issue of concussions and mental health have been at the forefront of all levels of football, particularly in the NFL, which has been sued multiple times by retired players and saw commissioner Roger Goodell take a lot of heat. The issue may be even more prevalent at the youth level, according to the Journal News, parents’ concern about head injuries is considered the number one cause for the decline.
Ryan Maher, a senior on the LHS varsity football team, tore his ACL in the game against Lake Forest. Maher was asked about how he has been coping with his injury, “Not being able to finish my senior season on the field with all of them is killing me. But the support I have received from everyone on this team, from the players to the coaches, has been unbelievable.”
Mr. Scott shared what he believed to be the reasoning for the decline: “The demographics of Libertyville have changed. If you go back and look at the school statistics — and we studied all [of] these — enrollment was down in all of the schools.”
Since only Libertyville citizens can join LBC, the enrollment numbers at Highland, Oak Grove, St. Joe’s, and the elementary schools have a large impact on the potential pool of players. The smaller the pool, the less LBC participants projected.
A high-publicized issue that may have impacted LBC’s future occurred back in 2011, when the old head treasurer for LBC was the culprit of an accounting scandal. Just under $67,000 was embezzled by Christopher Jacobsen, who turned himself in after a warrant was issued for his arrest. Amy Alderman, a Chicago Tribune reporter, wrote an article covering the scandal and stated that, “If LBC had the $67,000 taken from its general fund to complete the lighting project, there would be about $17,000 left to complete other projects such as more field maintenance or concession stand repairs.”
Because the program is a not-for-profit organization, they are only able to put their budget towards yearly maintenance, equipment (refurbishment and custom jerseys), and paying a field crew to keep the fields tidy, as stated by Mr. Scott. When this large sum of money was taken from the organization, it seemed to create a downfall for the program.
Mr. Scott mentioned that the LBC is a feeder organization to the high school team, which means they also get to use the facilities provided by LHS. Games are held at the stadium on some Sunday mornings for the kids to get the feel of what it’s like playing on a varsity field. Scott believes that this will get the kids to want to come back and keep playing so that one day they can perform under the glaring Friday night lights.