WNSL About Us

About The WNSL

MISSION STATEMENT

The West Nashville Sports League (WNSL) is a 501 (c) 3 corporation in its 25th year. WNSL prides itself on organization, communication and awareness of families needs while encouraging participants to have fun and focus on sportsmanship, fairness of play and recreational competition. It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game.

BACKGROUND

The West Nashville Sports League was founded as a private sports league for youth girls in November 1997 by seven parents who realized there wasn’t a youth sports league where their daughters could play with their friends and classmates on the same team. The league was originally named West Nashville Basketball League with 150 players. It became obvious to the founding parents Middle Tennessee needed a league where friends could play with friends.

In 1999, the decision was made to change the name to West Nashville Sports League and to apply for the 501©3 exemption. In 2001, winter basketball for boys was added. In 2003 WNSL was asked by LGH to integrate spring and fall baseball to the league. In the summer and fall of 2008 summer basketball and flag football were added, respectively. In 2015 Spring, Fall & Winter Indoor Soccer were added. A league that began for private reasons morphed into one of the largest youth sports leagues in the Southeast that also offers clinics, camps, youth referee and coaching certification programs and continues to offer a draft free league.

Throughout the history of WNSL the program’s financial support has come from individual and corporate donations and sponsorships – not from tax dollars. The growth of WNSL has gone from 5 baseball fields to 11, 5 with lights, and 150 players to over 6,000 families with children participating in the league

Testimonials

"I want to take a minute to thank you and the WNSL staff for a great season. This was our first year participating in the WNSL; our team was comprised of nine free agents and my son. We had a great season!!! Coach Shannon and I didn’t measure our season by wins and losses, but by how the boys have grown. We have decided to keep our team together; we will continue teaching the boys the game of basketball, sportsmanship, and teamwork. Thanks again for providing such a top notch league to grow young men."
Derrick Hammond

"From accommodating team-less first graders who want to learn basketball, to assembling entire leagues of players who want to have fun, Scott has managed to keep thousands of Nashville children active in sports while having lots of fun with their friends in a community atmosphere. For more than a decade and three sports, my family have enjoyed every season."
Janette Smith

"I hope this e-mail finds you all doing well. I wanted to take a few moments to express my sincerest support of the WNSL and appreciation for your kindness!!
Over the years, our boys have developed great friendships and a life time of memories while participating in the league. You all “run” a first rate program with positive core values and integrity for our children!!"
Tracy Utley
Former Georgia Player and WNSL Coach

"This was my first year to be associated with the WNSL and I want you to know that some of us know what an effort it takes to pull off a season and tournaments with this many teams, locations, gym monitors, coaches, and parents. Thanks for a great season and for all the communication I needed as a coach. It was truly a pleasure to be a part of this organization. Keep up the good work."
Larry Hasty
Lipscomb Lightning

A Note From The Director

With the large increase in the "winning at all cost" and "competitive sports is the only way" mentalities, we have had to work extremely hard to keep youth sports centered on what it was started for -- youth. Here at the West Nashville Sports League, we strive to keep "having fun while learning the fundamentals of various sports" as the emphasis of our league. Understanding, however, that with travel teams and competitive-oriented sports on the rise, we have had to adjust our league to accommodate teams and participants of this nature. We now offer a "recreational" oriented division and a "competitive" oriented division in all of our sports to make sure there is something for everyone who is interested in playing, making us a bit distinctive from other youth sports organizations.

The WNSL was started to allow children who simply wanted to play together in a non-threatening sports environment to enjoy youth sports. Therefore we do not have a preseason draft to determine what team participants will be playing on. Instead we provide a unique approach by being a "bring your on team" league. This means schools can bring teams to play, classmates or friends can join as full or partial teams, or individual "free agent" players can sign up as well. For our free agents, we place them on partial teams from their school/geographic location or sometimes form a team of all free agents.

We also do not post standings, won-loss records or scores during the season. We want our participants to simply love the game they are playing and therefore keep the focus off wins and loses. We do have coaches report the scores so we can stay on top of how the season is going, and we do adjust the schedule accordingly to give all teams an opportunity to win during the season. All of this is done to ensure that everyone has the most positive youth sports experience possible.

-Scott Tygard
WNSL President