The youth of Warrensburg are thankful to have somewhere to go after school. YES programs fill up fast so be sure to sign up early at www.yeswbrg.com. (Photo by Dustin Freund)

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- A multi-million dollar facility just south of Warrensburg offers the youth of Johnson County the opportunity to get off the streets and into after school programs through sports.

Youth Excited About Sports is a non-profit organization run with a philosophy centered on educating kids in sportsmanship, Christian values and character.

O.J. Rhone, the founder and CEO, said the YES Youth Activity Center is geared to get kids involved in sports after school lets out. Rhone cites a statistic that juvenile crime rates triple between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., which is why he wants a quality after-school program that gives kids an opportunity to stay off the street and on the playing fields. YES goes past sports and tries to create an environment to nurture underprivileged youth.

“Tutoring, character education and after-school programming will be at the heart of our services,” Rhone said.

Rhone, who was once drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 1993, said he is grateful to have grown up in an environment the emphasized discipline and respect and he wants to bring that to the youth through the YES Center.

The YES Youth Center is located at 128 SW State Route 13 in Warrensburg. (Photo by Dustin Freund)

“Throughout my college and professional career, I watched sports both empower and destroy lives,” he said. “In founding Youth Excited about Sports, it was my vision to create an environment where parents could feel good about the programs and kids could have fun.”

The YES Center uses area students, coaches and athletes to help with the kids.

University of Central Missouri’s Mo the Mule worked with the YES Center this past summer. Cale Magnuson, who has been Mo for the past four years, tried to get O.J. to work along side the Campus Christian House at UCM. The YES Center and CCH never solidified any plans together, but Magnuson said he could clearly see the core values from working with the YES Center.

Encouragement and a positive attitude are vital if kids are going to able to enjoy sports, Magnuson said.

“The YES Center is all about the kids. Just talking with O.J., I could see the urgency in his voice to help the youth out as much as he could. I wished we could have had something work out, but we couldn’t solidify the details.”

Art education major Dani Creasy works for O.J. during the week and said she can see a difference in the lives of the youth who frequent the YES Center.

“We have a core group of kids who come in after school every day, and you can see that they have grown in their time at YES.”

Creasy, a sophomore, started working at YES a year ago, and says she loves the time she spends with the kids. She first helped out by painting murals in the facility and then started to coach, tutor and mentor the kids. She wants to work at the YES Center for the duration of her time at UCM. Creasy said she is looking forward to the future development of the youth program and being a part of something meaningful.

O.J. Rohne has influenced many young lives and has made many new friends through YES, including Lauren Schumaker. (Photo by Dustin Freund)

“O.J. is really excited about the expansion and rapid growth of the YES Center,” Creasy said.

Typically, the kids come in after school and start doing homework in one of the study hall rooms. These rooms are stocked with computers and study tables for the kids to use. After homework, the kids can either get some one on one torturing with mentors like Creasy, or go use one of the game rooms. In a game room, kids can play video games on an Xbox or Nintendo Wii. Staff is stationed at the different areas of the facility mentoring and watching the kids. Creasy said the kids really like the video games, but the sports practices at night are what they enjoy most.

The kids really have fun playing basketball against each other and being coached by O.J., Creasy said.

Youth can get involved in YES by finding an event they want to attend on the YES website and showing up at the center to sign up. From there, kids and parents can get to know the staff and what the YES Center can offer them.
Mostly, the youth who participate are from Johnson County, but anyone can join. On the YES Center Website, it says that “school-aged” kids can join, and Creasy said first through fourth graders typically come in when school lets out and the sixth graders normally are involved in the basketball tournaments.

For more information on upcoming events, visit the YES Website at www.yeswbrg.com.