Eagle, ID Outdoor Activities

When recent budget cuts forced Treasure Valley to implement a pay-to-play program for high-school athletics, Jonathan Gonzales, Jeff Allen, Steven Caporale and Brett Hughes banded together to help aspiring athletes in need. Their donation-driven Farm Man Challenge tests competitors with lengthy races and farm-based obstacle courses while raising several thousand dollars each year to, according to KTVB, directly support high-school athletic programs. The annual event’s creators constantly tweak its matches, coaxing participants through new variations of multi-mile runs, corn-maze and obstacle navigation, and limbo contests against scarecrows. While only one male and one female finisher receive the honors of FarmMan and FarmWoman annually, each racer earns the ability to select the high school to which they donate.

Boise Nationals Soccer Club helps develop young soccer players from their first step onto the pitch to their first step onto a college campus. Formed exclusively for boys in 1986, the club has since merged with several girls' affiliates to create one of the state's most formidable coed soccer outfits. Today, 30 competitive teams play beneath its star-emblazoned logo.

The club's programs split player development into six categories, and its youth soccer league—formed in 2008—places pint-size dribblers under the guidance of professional coaches, who provide more in-depth instruction than the volunteer parents or scarecrows that supervise many other recreational sports teams. For players who blossom under the club's stewardship, college-placement programs are available to help hoist games to the next level.