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Winter Sports Registration
Registration is open for
Winter
sports! Sports include:
- Basketball
- Travel Basketball
- Wrestling
Click below to see program descriptions and register! Interested in becoming a coach or volunteer? You can also register below!
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Featured Article: SYA Wrestling - A Great Cross Training Sport for your Player!
Does this sound familiar? Your son or daughter plays pick "any” sport and they are pretty good at it and enjoy it. Once that season is over, the child and parents are afraid that if they don’t continue to play that sport, they will they lose the skills they developed or somehow “get passed” by other kids who specialize in that sport. They feel that year-round development is required to give their child a chance at becoming good enough to play that sport in high school.
While in some cases this works and they go on to play that sport in high school, college, and beyond, most of the time the kids will tire, burn out, and leave the sport they used to love. Some children give up and unfortunately leave sports all together. Those who continue and specialize, are more susceptible to injury because they continue to only train the same muscles and joints required for their chosen sport. Those muscles and joints eventually will wear down from repeated stress and lack of proper recovery. It doesn’t have to be this way: encourage your kids to play multiple sports!
Wrestling benefits young athletes by switching things up. It breaks up the monotony of playing a single sport exclusively while still complimenting other sports your children play. They make new friends and learn new techniques and ways to train and compete. Baseball players will learn balance and how to how to get a quick first step (plus they also like the dodgeball warm ups). Football players learn how to take down their opponents. Soccer players will get faster feet as well as use their upper bodies. All athletes will find and use muscles they never knew they had.
We all want what is best for our kids. My goal as a parent is to raise healthy, active, well rounded kids. I challenge them to try new things and step out of their comfort zone. Wrestling helps that. I will not lie, wrestling is a tough sport, both physically as well as mentally. Kids are often put in uncomfortable and challenging situations. We teach them what to do, how to respond, and how to become comfortable and remain calm in uncomfortable situations. In wrestling, there is one winner and one loser. You get out of it what you put into it. Wrestling teaches self-discipline, as well as how to stay even tempered by not getting too high after a win, or too down after a loss.
The goal of the wrestling program is to give your kids a solid foundation while instilling the values of good sportsmanship and character. SYA wrestlers compete in the Northern Virginia Wrestling Federation against other local youth clubs, and are grouped by age, weight, and experience level. We have kids at all different ages, sizes, and levels of experience. Emphasis is placed on fun, safety, physical fitness and the development of proper wrestling techniques.
If this sounds like your child, please sign up for SYA wrestling at
www.syasports.org. We are always looking for new teammates.
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SYA Field Hockey Clinic is back!
It’s fierce, it’s fun, and it’s fantastic. This fall, we have all new coaches and have reduced the number of girls to accommodate our “building year” status. But the girls don’t seem to mind as we’re able to provide one-on-one time and plenty of scrimmage play. We’re working with girls, 5th through 8th grade, teaching and reinforcing foundational skills and preparing them for school try-outs or club play. There are 8, 2-hour sessions this fall and we hope to enlarge the program a bit for the next fall season. A shout-out to our stellar coaches, Molly Gift, Tracey Barrett, Phil Brown, Julia Samantar, and Susan Malkus.
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Rugby: The Next Big Thing for FCPS?
In preparation for the 2017-2018 school year, approximately 100 FCPS PE teachers participated in rugby-based training to bring this great sport to their gyms and classrooms. The PE teachers, representing elementary, middle, high school and special needs schools across the county, went through a series of fun, rugby-based activities that showed the progression of skills development and gave them an idea of which activities to incorporate in their curriculum. Perhaps the biggest attraction to PE teachers was how easy the instruction was as it revolved around games every kids should know to include: “
Relay Races
”, “
Hot Potatoes
”, “
Freeze Tag
”, and “
Sharks vs. Minnows
”. Is your child’s school starting rugby soon? (
Learn more…
)
Can’t wait to learn how to play? Weekend clinics will be available in the spring. Please check back on the Rugby website for additional details.
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SYA Partnerships Sponsor Food Drives Throughout Year
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Along with Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services, SYA sponsors food drives throughout the year with this partnership. The two most recent food drives took place at Picture Day for SYA Soccer and Little League. Together, we've raised over
500 pounds
of food that will feed
13 families
! Thank you all for your support and be on the lookout for future food drives!
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14U SYA Babe Ruth Team Places Third in the World Series
The
SYA 14 Year Old All-Star team went 13-1 overall during All-Star competition. This included winning the Virginia District 7 Babe Ruth Championship, winning the Virginia State Babe Ruth Championship, defeating the Virginia 15U State Champions in preparation for the World Series, and going 4-1 in the World Series.
SYA was one of 10 teams worldwide to qualify for the
14 Year Old Babe Ruth World Series.
The World Series was held in Glenn Allen, Va. They went 4-0 in pool play, beating the champions from the Southeast region (from North Carolina) 3 to 2 in extra innings, mid-Atlantic region (from New Jersey) 7 to 5, Northeast region (from Connecticut) 5 to 1, and Pacific Northwest region (from Oregon) 11 to 1. They advanced to the semi-finals but ultimately lost a close game (4 to 3) to the Pacific Northwest regional champs. The team tied for third place overall in the 14u Babe Ruth World Series.
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The Second-Goal Parent
The Big Picture in Youth Sports
A Second-Goal Parent recognizes that there is a Little Picture and a Big Picture in youth sports. The Little Picture concerns things like whether the child is playing the right position, the team is winning, etc. The Big Picture, which often gets drowned out by the Little Pictures, is about what the child is learning from youth sports.
There are two broad goals in youth sports: striving to win and building character so kids develop into successful, contributing members of society. As important as winning may seem, Second-Goal Parents let coaches and athletes worry about the first goal of scoreboard results.
Second-Goal Parents have a much more important role to play: ensuring their children take away from sports lessons that will help them be successful in life. That is the Big Picture.
Endless Procession of Teachable Moments
If you embrace your role as a Second-Goal Parent, it will transform the way you see youth sports. It will help you seize the endless procession of teachable moments that will come your way again and again when you are looking for them.
What might have seemed like a disappointing loss or a failure by your child becomes an opportunity to reinforce resiliency. A tough competition in forbiddingly hot, cold, or nasty weather can prompt a conversation with your child about learning to enjoy challenges. Whether your child succeeds or fails on the playing field, you will be able to use the experiences to reinforce the kind of person you want him or her to be.
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This article was provided courtesy of
Positive Coaching Alliance
.
PCA’s mission is to make high school and youth sports a Development Zone to develop Better Athletes, Better People.
PCA's Super Bowl ad reached 100 million people courtesy of Fox Sports Supports! Click
here
to check it out.
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Congratulations to SYA's Champions of Character Award Recipients!
Congratulations to three SYA members who were recognized at the Champions of Character Awards Ceremony on October 16, 2017. The Fairfax County Champions of Character Awards program honors youth, coaches and parents for extraordinary service in pursuing victory with honor in various athletics programs throughout Fairfax County. The three SYA award winners were:
Nicole Mueller
, Rugby, Female Athlete;
Tom Phipps
, Rugby, Parent; and
Charles Illari
, Volleyball, Coach.
Click
here to learn more about our winners!
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Fitness Tips Sponsored by OrthoVirginia
Backpack Safety
Wear both straps
Use of one strap causes one side of the body to bear the weight of the backpack. By wearing two shoulder straps, the weight of the backpack is better distributed.
Wear the backpack over the strongest mid-back muscles
Pay close attention to the way the backpack is positioned on the back. It should rest evenly in the middle of the back. Shoulder straps should be adjusted to allow the child to put on and take off the backpack without difficulty and allow free movement of the arms. Straps should not be too loose, and the backpack should not extend below the low back.
Lighten the load
Keep the load at 10-15% or less of the child's bodyweight. Carry only those items that are required for the day. Organize the contents of the backpack by placing the heaviest items closest to the back. Some students have two sets of books so as not to have to carry the heavy books to and from school.
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