The Volo Kids Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing free sports programming for children, is expanding its offerings in Denver this spring, according to a news release.

Beach volleyball is one of the new kids’ programs starting next month at the Club Volo South Broadway sand courts. It also has a newly renovated indoor facility, Volo Sports Arena, in the River North Art District, which Volo Kids uses on Saturdays, Michaela Larabee, associate director of Volo Denver, said in an interview.

The current offerings in Denver include soccer, basketball, volleyball, kickball, and flag football. Specific locations for each sport can be found on its website volokids.org.

Initially founded in Baltimore in 2015, the organization expanded to the Denver area in 2018 and is preparing to launch free programming at more locations.

The Volo Kids Foundation works to provide free sports programming for kids and the community, as well as building skills and reinforcing lessons that come with being a part of a team, Executive Director Jen Rifkin told The Denver Gazette.

The programs cover a large range of sports, each with different levels of intensity, so that anyone — no matter their level of experience — can play and grow confidence, Rifkin said.

“There’s just an unbelievable amount we can get from sports,” Rifkin said.

The programs typically run for six weeks and each meeting lasts around two hours. That time is then split up between doing drills, scrimmages, and character-building huddles, according to Rifkin.

The goal of the volunteers is to create lasting relationships with the children in the programs, Rifkin said, and Volo Kids is heavily emphasized each time the adults meet to play in Volo Sports.

Coaching candidates are vetted through background checks. Many of the coaches who volunteer with Volo Kids play in Volo Sports because volunteers can play in the adult leagues for free, Rifkin said.

“The kids think our Volo [volunteers] are the professional athletes,” she said, and the weekly meetings end with coaches asking students: “How can we apply what we learned to real life?”

“I always talk about sports as being this really cool vehicle, because kids can’t tell that they’re learning all the time,” Rifkin said. “They’re learning really important lessons, and they’re learning how to build relationships and friendships that hopefully they use throughout the trajectory of their life.”

The programs also include free team shirts and a healthy snack at the end of every scrimmage.

The way Volo Kids ensures that every child can participate completely free of charge is through the foundation’s partnership with Volo Sports. Those adult sports leagues give a portion of the revenue from the fees to fund 100% of the costs for any child who wants to participate in Volo Kids.

“So, on the back of every adult player’s shirt, it says, ‘We play so kids play free,'” Rifkin said.

The foundation runs programming in strategic locations, utilizing the Denver Office of Childhood Affairs to find areas with “high need” where there might be a financial barrier for kids interested in sports, said Larabee.

“Almost three-fourths of our programs are in those areas that are identified as high needs, or having increased barriers to participation,” while the other programs are run at the Volo adult facilities in Denver, Larabee said.

Whenever a location reaches capacity for children enrolled in programs, it gives Volo officials a better idea of where to continue expanding, according to Larabee.

“We are really all about developing community, and we know that sports and activities, they foster leadership, they foster interpersonal skills,” Larabee said. The aim for both Volo Sports and Volo Kids is to build a great community anchored by strong interpersonal relationships, she said.

Volo has expanded with new programs at Harvey Park and York Street Yards, and it is also returning to previous locations like Rocky Mountain Lake Park and Montbello Central Park, as well as its other locations throughout Denver, according to Larabee.

The next registration deadline for Volo Sports is on April 16. There is a monthly rolling admission for Volo Kids, and April 7 is the deadline for April programs.