Marco Optimist Club Sees Youth Sports Explosion

The youth soccer fields at Mackle Park are teeming with life as the Optimist Club of Marco Island (OCMI) staged their soccer jamboree on this sunny Saturday morning, February 15. Young coaches are coaching very young kids. Over 200 boys and girls are playing as teammates. Kids are kindly consoling their teammates. Varsity players are giving back to the game as officials. Grandmas are unabashedly waving and cheering on their pint-sized heroes. Away from the action kids are earnestly lining up for snow cones and hot dogs. A third-grade girl shrieks with delight, “We won!” when she realizes her team was the victor in a penalty shoot-out. A coach shows her motherly instincts by charging onto the field after one of the players gets in an extra kick during a pileup in front of the goal. “That is NOT okay,” she implores. Meanwhile on the next field over a team mom helps a third grader with his Capri Sun straw while another player asks hopefully if they’re going to get any gummy bears.  

"Yeah, it's good stuff,” muses Chris Savarino, who along with wife Jaime, conducts this symphony of youth and community sports activity. “It's all good, these kids keep us busy.” 

That’s an understatement. The Savarinos, Jaime the president, Chris the vice president, pour their hearts and souls into the OCMI. Between soccer, flag football, basketball, and lacrosse there is only a one month hiatus in the youth sports schedule. But they wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“We've been a part of Optimists since our son Ben was four or five,” Savarino said. "We're kind of rebuilding the Optimist program, bringing it back. If there’s an event, we’re going to be there. That's kind of our goal.” 

Son Ben, a freshman, was the leading scorer on Marco Island Academy’s surprising district championship team that recently wrapped up the school’s most successful soccer campaign. Ben was one of a core group of freshmen on the team; most of them came up through the OCMI program. The Savarinos pack up their concession stand and take it to various island events to earn money for the OCMI, the only youth organization of its kind on the island. They took over leadership three years ago. Savarino said that youth sports on the island are growing by leaps and bounds, especially since the onset of Covid. 

“Every season we grow 15 to 20 percent,” Savarino said. "When we first started, we had maybe 100 kids at soccer, and that was the flagship. This year, we were over 190 kids. The Covid year is when we just exploded. It went from 80 kids for flag football to 130. Many of them are people that were transplanted from Covid states.” 

 Savarino estimates that 90 percent of the OCMI players live on Marco. He said growing numbers are consistent across the board - and many are from families who have become Marco Islanders since Covid. 

"I wouldn't say all of them,” Savarino said,  "but it’s a decent percentage. A few of the families have five or six kids. A majority of them moved here within the past couple of years.” 

The huge growth in youth sports is taking its toll on Marco’s already overtaxed athletic fields. “It’s a huge topic,” he said. And while conceding the fields show signs of wear and tear, Savarino is effusive in his praise of the city’s parks and rec team. 

“Without that group, we wouldn't be able to do what we do,” Savarino said flatly. “They're the first to call us with field assignments, lining the fields for us, and reminding us about the lights. The parks and rec people have just been awesome. Those fields are 20 some years old. They were just not built to support what this island has now. There are hundreds of kids that play on those fields every week. The fact that they are as good as they are, it's kudos to the parks and rec department.” 

To become a part of the Optimist Club of Marco Island, visit them on Facebook and Instagram. Savarino said a state of the art website is coming soon.