Cheltenham Sports

Cheltenham Sports (formerly The Cheltenham Jayvees) is an independent non-profit volunteer association that sponsors youth soccer, basketball and roller hockey programs. All programs are conducted through the goodwill of volunteers and the revenues collected through registration fees and club initiated fund raisers. Cheltenham Sports has served the children of the community since 1932. Our principal focus is to provide children with athletic opportunities to develop and reinforce good sportsmanship and team play. At its inception, Cheltenham Sports only sponsored an intramural football program. Over the years, the club added a basketball program. In the early 1980s, football was eliminated and the soccer program was established. In 1995, the roller hockey program was created. For the first fifty years of our existence, membership stood at approximately 350 participants. Starting in the late 1980's and continuing throughout the 1990s, the club experienced rapid growth in its membership. The current Cheltenham Sports membership is approximately 1,300 children. The club continues to be the largest non-profit organization in the community. Some other information of note is outlined as follows: 90% of all program participants are Cheltenham Township residents. The club has over 300 volunteers involved in coaching our soccer, basketball and roller hockey programs. The soccer program consists of 66 intramural soccer teams and 18 travel teams, serving approximately 900 children. About 40% of our soccer membership is composed of female athletes. The roller hockey program provides year round outdoor hockey for approximately 200 children. The basketball program consists of intramural and travel teams with over 200 participants. Our travel soccer program accounts for a majority of the current high school varsity soccer team players (both male and female). In 2004, Cheltenham Sports undertook a major capital improvement project at Wall Park. The project consisted of removing two existing softball fields and adding night-time lighting for a soccer facility. As part of the agreement with Cheltenham Township to use Wall Park as a year-round soccer facility, the Jayvees agreed to fund the building of a new softball field at John Russell Park. The combined capital improvement projects will cost approximately $175,000 to complete. All of the costs associated with these capital improvement projects will be funded by the Cheltenham Sports.