Juneau youth board reviews $3,605 in travel requests from two teen athletes

Sonny Mazon Jr. beat out about 50 athletes from 13 western states for one of 18 roster spots at a national youth soccer event in Orlando next January. Maia Cole-Undurraga qualified for the Alaska Junior Olympic Championship in Anchorage. Both are asking Juneau to help them get there.

The city's Youth Activity Board takes up the two requests Tuesday evening. Together they come to $3,605. Mazon is asking for $2,885, most of it airfare from Juneau plus lodging and a program fee. Cole-Undurraga is asking for $720 to cover a round-trip ticket to Anchorage, a rental car and entry fees.

"We would hate for financial constraints to prevent him from participating," Heidi Richards-Mazon wrote in her son's application. Cole-Undurraga's mother wrote that Juneau families face higher costs than most for travel, lodging and registration simply because of where they live.

The money comes from a set-aside the city requires: 5 percent of Juneau's youth activity grant allocation, or $17,500 out of $350,000, reserved for exactly this, athletes who qualify unexpectedly and need to get somewhere. The rest funds clubs and camps.

It went fast last year. The board received eight travel requests totaling $32,262 and awarded about half, $16,262. The fund closed the fiscal year with $1,237 in it. This year's set-aside is the same $17,500.

One oddity on Tuesday's agenda: Cole-Undurraga's $720 request also appears in the board's annual report as an award already made in the fiscal year that has closed. Neither document explains why it is in both places.