The community is coming together to help make sure the games go on for thousands of kids in the Arizona National Youth Sports Tackle Football League.
ABC15 was recently made aware that families were left without answers — there were no scheduled games after paying to play in the league. There’s been little information as to why - other than some parents getting a text message from the head of NYS in the Valley saying he’s sick and plans to step down.
“It’s been real stressful,” said Katie Monsibais.
Like hundreds of other parents across the state, Monsibais is now learning the youth football league she paid to have her 9-year-old football-loving son Jaime play in this season is no more.
“My son has played three games, and the season is now over,” said Monsibais.
She says Arizona NYS Tackle Football stopped scheduling games in the middle of the season.
The head of the league, James Vieth, has left everyone in the dark. That is until an attorney recently contacted parents and coaches to tell them Vieth was dissolving the league as part of a personal and business bankruptcy.
“We signed up to have our kids go through playoffs and championships and things like that and none of that’s going to happen,” said Monsibais.
Like Monsibais, mother Sharee De Leon wonders where the money they paid at the start of the season has gone. Especially after finding out referees and fields weren’t being paid for during previous games.
Answers they still don’t have.
“It’s just not fair for our youth and our parents and our coaches and our staff,” said De Leon.
In a statement from the NYS national organization, they say they do not know or understand how this happened under Vieth's leadership but say there is a collaborative effort to get the players playing, the parents cheering and the coaches coaching again.
“I’ve been coaching about four years total,” said Mike Regalado.
Regalado is the coach of the Arizona Sol and says he’s not waiting around. He’s now working with other coaches to schedule games and help pay for the associated costs on their own.
“We said that we would maybe charge the parents maybe $5 just to cover the ref costs, just to keep it minimal, and I would cover the rest out of pocket,” said Regalado.
For Monsibais, a simple apology and explanation from Vieth would have gone a long way.
“So far, like we would be like ok lets just figure out what’s next but that’s not even what happened,” said Monsibais.
A meeting was expected to happen Wednesday at Mountain View High School for those involved to discuss how to move forward but has since been canceled. No new date has been announced.
