Since 1971
An independent, volunteer-driven non-profit providing competitive yet fun athletics for kids in the Prior Lake / Savage school district.
Prior Lake Athletics for Youth serves the Prior Lake / Savage School District to provide competitive yet fun athletic opportunities for kids. Our priority is safety, skills development, and the teaching of life lessons through sports.
Our program promotes the importance of sportsmanship, teamwork, leadership and integrity. We believe learning both success and failure through competition will benefit our future generations.
Prior Lake Athletics for Youth — one of the largest volunteer-based youth sport organizations in the state. P.L.A.Y. is an independent, non-profit organization governed by an Executive Board of Directors and individual sport committees.
Our by-laws state that a participant must reside in and/or attend school within the boundaries of Prior Lake / Savage school district #719. If you do not meet this requirement, contact the sport VP or Admin Director for clarification before registering.
P.L.A.Y. was formed in late November of 1971 by parents who wanted a structured athletic program for their children. It began with baseball in the spring of 1972 with 60 participants. Girls softball and basketball were added the following year. Today we offer ten sports to nearly 5,000 participants with roughly 1,000 volunteers annually.
Some offerings begin at PreK–K and run through 8th grade. PreK athletes must be 5 years old by September 1st of that season.
In-house teams play against other teams formed within the Prior Lake / Savage district, with practices and games in the evening at local facilities. Traveling teams participate in leagues and tournaments, spending roughly 60% of their time in other communities within about a 25-mile radius, and typically cost more due to league, tournament and uniform requirements.
Traveling teams start at different ages depending on available leagues and facilities — often around 4th grade. Tryout evaluators are high school coaches or others outside the program. Playing up is not allowed unless pre-approved by the VP of Sport, the Travel Director and that sport's board.
Youth sports can be an emotional minefield for adults, especially when our own children are involved — tryout results, playing time, positioning, coaching strategy, conflicts with teammates and officiating are all pressure points. Youth sports organizations around the world have found one thing that diffuses emotionally charged situations better than anything else: time.
The 24-hour rule is a cooling-off period that removes immediate emotional reactions from the dialogue. The goal of dispute resolution is for all parties to work through the situation not as adversaries, but as partners in the athletic and personal development of our athletes.
Unless a dispute requires immediate attention — athlete safety concerns or a firm deadline — P.L.A.Y. participants are required to wait at least twenty-four hours after an event before initiating a dispute resolution process. As a general rule, grievances that do not adhere to the 24-hour rule will not be accepted or responded to.
