OUTGOING GOVERNING BOARD MEMBER KUKNYO CLAIMS 25% OF ATHLETES ARE LOCAL, BUT DATA SUGGEST OTHERWISE

Volleyball roster lists only one local player out of 17, with others hailing from Serbia, Brazil, and beyond. Men’s soccer and baseball teams also appear to fall short of the minimum local recruitment goals

During his resignation speech at the November meeting of the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board, outgoing Board member Chris Kuknyo made the following statement:

“When our sports teams had next to no local athletes, we said at minimum 25% had to be local, and now that’s so.”

A quick review of a handful of current athletic rosters suggests this claim is inaccurate.

For example, the Yavapai College volleyball team lists 17 players, but only one is from Yavapai County (6%). To meet the 25% target, at least five players would need to hail from the county. Instead, the team includes five international players, hailing from Serbia, Brazil, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Poland.

Similarly, the 2024 baseball roster comprises 38 players, with only four (10%) from Yavapai County—far short of the 25% benchmark.

The 2024 men’s soccer team includes 26 players, of whom only three (11%) are from Yavapai County. To meet the stated goal, the team would need at least seven local players. Like the volleyball team, the soccer roster features a strong international presence, with players from Colombia, Australia, Canada, Spain, the Cayman Islands, and Mexico.

These figures indicate that Yavapai Community College athletics has not yet achieved the 25% local athlete goal cited by Kuknyo in his remarks.

You may hear Mr. Kuknyo’s statement taken from his remarks at the Board meeting  below: