Lee — Ava Giarob, a fifth grader at Lee Middle School, wanted to make new friends. She was also seeking an activity, something to do. Upon hearing that some of her classmates were trying out a new sports club in town, Giarob thought she would “give it a try.”
“I really like it,” she said of Wildcat Sports Group’s softball team. Her favorite position on the local diamond is first base, and with good reason. “I have a lot of good luck there—last year I got five people out there,” Giarob said.
The new club is the brainchild of Simon Borrett, a Brit who has spent his career developing and managing soccer clubs around the globe. He has now brought that vast experience to the town of Lee as the founder and president of newly formed Wildcat Sports Group that boasts softball and soccer programs. “We’re really trying to make sure that our organization is a hub for youth sports,” he said.
Borrett spent two decades in a wide spectrum of organized soccer programs—from youth recreation leagues to semi-professional teams—until the pandemic hit when he stepped away from working professionally in sports to spend time with his family, including his 11-year-old daughter Chloe and seven-year-old son Finley, who both attend Lee schools. During that time, he said he heard from local parents about the lack of programs being offered in Lee, prompting him to take action. Those families were commuting to other parts of Berkshire County for athletic options. But it was his children’s journey that returned him to the fields as they took their first steps into youth sports.
“It got to the point where if my kids were to fall in love with a sport and wanted to be varsity athletes, there could potentially be the opportunity where—there wouldn’t be that chance or that opportunity due to that program no longer existing or due to a lack of numbers or support,” Borrett said. Initially, a group of Lee parents whose daughters were playing for a soccer team in another town pushed him forward and then helped organize the group as its inaugural Board of Directors in the fall of 2023. Wildcat Sports Group received its nonprofit status at the end of last year, and four subcommittees were created as the organization’s structure, Borrett said.
Wildcat’s softball teams currently have six coaches, and this season’s registration tallies 38 children from second to seventh grade, he said. The season began in April, and practices are set for two days a week.
Borrett said he is looking for pitchers. “In youth softball, pitchers have been a real troublesome position,” he said. Saturday softball clinics are open to players on the team and they are provided instruction by each coach who is devoted to a position or technique. The group’s Director of Coaching Mike Massery runs The Infield indoor sports-training facility in Pittsfield, with all adults participating in Wildcats serving as volunteers, Borrett said.
With donations, the organization has already added fences and benches to Lee’s Marble Street field, making the site safer, Borrett said. Softball practices are also held at East Lee’s smaller field at 505 Chapel Street. Soccer practices are at the Wastewater Plant/Route 102 at 340 Pleasant Street.
Weekly emails are provided to softball parents regarding the athletes’ schedules, as well as an app to offer information should there be a rain delay or a lost cap, Borrett said. “That communication piece is huge,” he said.
The soccer teams have been a bit slower getting started as the Wildcats missed the cutoff date to enter Berkshire County’s league, with that start due to happen in the fall, Borrett said. However, soccer clinics will begin on May 4 for children in pre-kindergarten through second grade.
Although the softball and soccer programs are up and running, he said he hopes to add more sports to the club in the future and directs parents interested in activities not provided by Wildcat to places that can meet their children’s needs.
Krista Woodard enrolled her daughter, Stella Woodard, in Wildcat’s softball program, a first for the youngster, and credits Borrett with Stella’s interest. “We really wanted to give his league a chance,” Krista Woodard said. Since Stella Woodard and Borrett’s daughter are friends, she thought Wildcat was a good place to start her child in league sports as her past athletic participation had been in a dance program. “The first practice went amazing,” Krista Woodard said. Although the family lives in Pittsfield, she said the drive to Lee “is worth it,” hoping her daughter gains self-confidence, learns a new sport, and has fun with a different group of girls.
Stella Woodard agrees, although she admits to being nervous when she took to the field for the first time. “I could see myself playing [softball] for a while,” she said.
For Borrett, more work is still needed for growth—on the fields and in the organization. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but if you build it, they will come,” he said.
For more information, see Wildcat Sports Group on Facebook, email wildcatsportsgroup@gmail.com, or call Borrett at (413) 297-6901.
