ALTUS - A Better Youth Pop Warner League recently received a land donation of 37.8 acres from Plains Cotton Cooperative Association, which will serve as the foundation for the Indoor Track and Field Mega Sports Complex to be built in 2010.

ABYPWL also plans to utilize the land to hold games for the upcoming 2007 Pop Warner season and for the following years to come.

ABYPWL President says the land donation could not have come at a better time and he looks forward to putting his vision into action.

“A Better Youth Foundation was started in August 2005 by Wilson. He started ABY Pop Warner Little Scholars Inc. in Oklahoma in 2006. As a Pop Warner League, ABYPWL will play teams in the SW Region which include: Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Colorado and New Mexico. If the teams advance in the regional competition, they will have the opportunity to compete at the national championship games held in Disney World in December. Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides youth football, cheer and dance programs for participants in 41 states and several countries around the world. Consisting of approximately 360,000 young people ranging from ages 5 to 16 years old, PWLS is the largest youth football, cheer and dance program in the United States.

Pop Warner was founded in 1929 continues to grow and serves as the only youth football, cheerleading & dance organization that requires its participants to maintain academic standards in order to participate. Pop Warner's commitment to academics is what separates the program from other youth sports around the world.

“This is just the beginning,” ABYPWL President Timothy Wilson said. “We've devoted a lot of time putting this organization and partnership together. I just hope all our hard work is appreciated.”

For the generous donation, ABYPWL will offer the employees of PCCA and their children free membership for the upcoming years. The A.B.Y. membership fee is $30 a year. The benefits include: no sign-up fees for sports offered by A Better Youth Foundation, field trips, use of the internet café notebooks and use of the facilities.

This year ABYPWL will be looking for sponsors to help develop 10 youth football fields. These football fields will host the regional playoff games for the southwest region in the near future. ABYPWL is asking businesses to sponsor ABY Pop Warner League Associations. We currently have five associations for sponsoring. The cost for the sponsorship will be a $3,000 donation, which will give you the opportunity to have your company name placed at each end zone and a scoreboard will also carry your company name or logo. In order to maintain your sponsor membership, there will be a yearly $1,000 donation required. Donations for that association will go toward the upkeep of the field and the name of the company will remain on that field. If your company decides not to sponsor a team next year, the name or logo will still remain on the scoreboard. Deadline for sponsoring an association will be Aug. 1. For more information or if you are interested in sponsoring an association, please call 649-0354.