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In 1981, a group of men saw a need in the Suffolk community and fixed it. 

In the mid 70s, Bob Gillette wrote a letter to the city’s Parks and Recreation director, offering some advice on how their soccer program could be improved. 

“I wrote my letter, which was constructive criticism,” Gillette said. “I congratulated him on having the program. I said, ‘I think I can help you improve it.’ He took offense. Came to my office and said, ‘I guess you don’t ever make any mistakes.’ I said, ‘Well, listen, if you don’t want to take my help … we’ll start our own program.’ And that’s what we did.”

Co-founded by Gillette and Harry Cross, the Suffolk Youth Athletic Association (SYAA) started as an independently owned, 100% volunteer-run nonprofit organization, and it’s remained that way for the past 40 years. As the largest privately-owned youth sports club in the Tidewater area, it takes over 25,000 annual volunteer hours to run and manage.     

According to its website, SYAA currently serves over 1,800 registered players year-round. They provide soccer, baseball, softball, and field hockey. Some sports start at three years old and offer adult pick-up games. All experience levels are welcome, with recreational, advanced, and select teams available.

How it all began

After deciding to take matters into his own hands, Gillette and a few others put together three soccer teams. Dr. Douglass Naismith was president of Nansemond-Suffolk Academy at the time, and let the teams use their fields on the weekends. This group of teams became known as the Youth Soccer Association. 

With the help of “Bud” C.C. Shelton and Bryant Goodloe — who later became the vice present and a board of directors member, respectively — Gillette also started a small league of T-ball players.

Whenever they would try to have a T-ball practice, Gillette said adult softball teams were using the fields.

“So at that point, and I guess this is the beginning, I said to Bud and Bryant, I said, ‘Look, guys, we need to have a facility where the kids come first,’” he said. “They thought about it and said, ‘Bob, that’s a good idea. Why don’t you do it?’”

So he did.

Gillette eventually bought about 17 acres of land from his neighbors, which is where the first softball and baseball fields were built.

Cross also became involved at this time, because Gillette knew he was also interested in youth athletics. 

R.L. “Bobby” Johnson Jr. — another future member of the SYAA board of directors — and Gillette worked to clear the land and put in a drainage system to dry it up so they could build the first fields.

They quickly realized they were outgrowing their current space, and demand for soccer was also increasing. Gillette’s same neighbors had more land across the street, which they rented to Gillette before he bought it.

Now, that space is home to the soccer side of SYAA.

“I could foresee down the road that that wasn’t gonna be enough, you know, because baseball was already wanting to play in the fall, and soccer is something you play year round,” Gillette said. “So that’s all the way these things came about.” 

Gillette estimated they invested about $50,000 into building the park, but Cross said it’s hard to specify a price because they had so many donations from local businesses and foundations.

“We knew everybody, so if we needed something, we’d go talk to somebody and say, ‘Come help us,’’ Cross said. “So it was a very local effort.”

He specifically mentioned donations made by the Richard Bennette Trust, the Birdsong Foundation, and the Lipton Tea Company. Parents volunteered to be coaches and umpires and run the concession stand.

As the club grew, Cross said Gillette built a new T-ball field in one week to match the demand. 

“We kind of had a philosophy when we started,” Gillette said. “Everybody needed to give back to this community in some form. And we always thought we got more out of what we did than what we gave.”

Continued growth

Spanning multiple generations, most SYAA volunteers either played with the club as a kid, or have a family member currently playing.

Sue Rimasse is a long-time softball and baseball coach at SYAA and played a part in getting the softball program started. She coached Kasie Wilson, who is the current softball commissioner, and now has two grandsons who play soccer and baseball with SYAA. Both of Rimasse’s daughters also grew up playing for SYAA.

Soccer commissioner Vito Basile has been involved with SYAA for about 20 years and had kids who went through the program, and Executive Board President Patrick Bales’ three sons also played soccer with the club.

Rimasse played a hand in getting the softball program started when her kids were 12 years old.

Prior to having designated softball fields, Rimasse said the girls were having to play T-ball with the boys, which she said “wasn’t the same” as having an only girls team.

“Having the camaraderie with all the girls, it’s different,” she said. “We brought it up to the board, and there was a little piece of land, way out in the back, no bathrooms, no concessions, no nothing. And we worked, and we worked, to build what we called our ‘field of dreams,’ because we had a place for our eight and nine year old girls to go out there and play.”

In 2002, Gillette sold the soccer land to the then SYAA officers.

Now, there are 19 fields on the baseball and softball side, with 10 softball teams and 26 baseball teams. On the soccer side, there are seven full sized fields that can be broken down into smaller ones for younger kids. There are 23 competitive teams, and more rec teams.

Because SYAA is still 100% volunteer-run, meeting the need for coaches can be challenging, said Geoff Payne, the executive board treasurer.

“It’s always been a struggle to get coaches,” he said, “because a lot of people come in and they’ve not done it before, and you have to twist arms to get people to coach. That hasn’t changed. We still managed to get volunteer coaches. We still have to twist arms, but we offer training for coaches and whatever support they need.”

Wilson said each commissioner is in charge of finding coaches for their sport. When parents register their kids to play, there is a spot to indicate they want to coach. But if there aren’t enough, Wilson said they call each parent and personally ask if they would be willing. 

Filling the gap

Despite there sometimes being a lack of participation from parents, Payne said there’s never been a lack of players. Since 1981, SYAA has steadily grown. The main reason for this, Payne said, is because there isn’t anywhere else in the city for kids to go.

“We’re very much part of the fabric of Suffolk,” he said. “We’ve always been out there, since ’81 that’s the place kids go to play sports.”

Payne said he knows transportation is an issue for some families and that’s why they aren’t part of SYAA. He wants to solve this transportation issue, but also recognizes it would be unrealistic to add that onto the list of volunteer tasks.

Wilson added that there are not a lot of places kids can go to play sports recreationally, which is what SYAA offers, in addition to their advanced, competitive teams. 

“We don’t do anything to sacrifice the rec program,” Payne said.

For example, Wilson said one of their softball teams was made up of 12-year-old girls who had never played before.

“It was perfect to start them all together because no one felt left out,” she said. “No one felt like they didn’t know what they were doing … And it was the most beautiful journey to watch these … teenagers go from, you know, being not confident and kind of nervous to, at the end of the season, they have grown so much, not only within their sport, but just within themselves.”

Payne added it’s similar on the soccer side. He said SYAA is the only club in the area that offers an in-house program for 14,15, and 16-year-olds.

Wilson said that SYAA registrations are purposefully kept open longer than other clubs in surrounding areas to cater to kids who don’t make their high school teams.

“We’re trying to create healthy habits that last a lifetime, and we all know moving your body and physical exercise is a healthy habit, but if you don’t have a place that you enjoy doing that at, where you don’t feel isolated, who wants to do that,” she said.

Fundraising

Because SYAA is a nonprofit, money is raised through fundraising efforts and working with local businesses.

Basile said their biggest fundraiser for soccer is the Halloween trunk or treat. 2018 was the first year of the event, and there were around 10 cars that participated and about 100 people who came through, he said.

The trunk or treat was canceled in 2019 due to the pandemic, but since then, it’s been an annual event. Last year, Basile said there were over 5,000 people who participated. At the same time as the trunk or treat, there are hay rides, bounce houses, obstacle courses, and food.

In 2023, Basile said they had over 1,000 participants and ran out of candy within 15 minutes. Because of that, they now encourage candy donations to ensure people participating in the trunk or treat have enough.

Another event hosted by the soccer side is their World Cup tournament, which Basile said is “amazing.”

The club hires semi-professional players to be coaches for the event, which gets the kids very excited, he said.

One of Basile’s favorite parts about the tournament is the scholarship that comes from it. If a kid plays with SYAA and is offered a spot on a college soccer team, they give away $1,400 per player. 

“We like to help,” Basile said. “And I think that’s another thing that’s really helped us grow on this side, because we’re trying to get the kids set up for the next level.” 

Basile said they also host a flea market in the summer and occasionally host college games as other means to raise money and awareness for the program.

This is just one way SYAA gives back to its community. The club gives out an annual $750 scholarship to a rising high school senior who is pursuing higher education and was positively impacted by their time at SYAA. 

The Rod Taylor scholarship honors the legacy of Rodney Allen Taylor. When Taylor was a part of SYAA, he was very involved and held many roles, including coach, commissioner, and president. 

Every year, a $750 scholarship is awarded to a young lady who played softball with SYAA and is planning to pursue higher education.

For softball and baseball, Wilson said the majority of their fundraising comes from hosting tournaments during the summer. For six consecutive weeks, there are tournaments happening, she said.

While soccer hosts the big fall event, softball and baseball host a big spring event — Lead Off Day. Wilson said this is a day where all sports are invited and they celebrate the beginning of the spring season.

This is when all the kids get their uniforms and take team photos. Wilson said they also have bounce houses, food trucks, and invite various vendors to come out.

“It supports a lot of the small businesses in Suffolk that support us, and it’s their opportunity to come have a vendor event where they can sell their products and stuff like that, and have their advertising sign out there on the field, if they bought an advertising sign,” she said.

SYAA also hosts a Jimmy Pike softball tournament in the fall, which raises money for Hampton Roads organizations. Wilson said SYAA does keep some of the money, but they also donate to places like the Suffolk Humane Society and toward cancer research. 

Jimmy Pike was a softball coach at SYAA who passed away from cancer. Now, his original team returns to play every year for the tournament. 

In the past 40 years, SYAA has grown tremendously, and will continue to do so, so every child who wants to play will have a place to go.

Gillette said numerous times that he originally put a lot into the organization, but he believes he always got more from it. This is a sentiment that most on the board agree with.

“It was an unusual situation where a person has an idea and other people buy into it, and then all these volunteers came together,” Gillette said. “I don’t take credit for building the park. I was involved in it, but all these volunteers came and did it, and then we found the next generation that was interested enough in it to continue it, which is a wonderful compliment.”

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