"SYA MOMENTS"
Capture the Moment with SYA

November, 2020 Newsletter
The SYA Moments is a monthly e-newsletter to keep you informed on all
SYA sports and community events
SYA Offers 14 Different Sports!

Babe Ruth Baseball, Basketball, Cheerleading, Cricket - NEW!, Field Hockey, Tackle and Flag Football, Lacrosse, Little League Baseball and Softball, Rugby, Soccer, Track & Field, Ultimate Frisbee (NEW SPORT coming), Volleyball and Wrestling

SYA Also Offers Travel Programs
SYA Registration For Wrestling and Travel Basketball Tryouts Is Open!

Basketball Pre-Registration is Open with Full Registration Opening Soon!


We are excited that Fairfax County has informed us that facilities will be released so that we can have permit space for our winter programs. Wrestling registration is now open!! For those interested in a more challenging basketball program, our travel basketball tryout registration is open now. We also hope to have winter clinics for volleyball, soccer, and cricket opening in the coming weeks.

Pre-registration for house basketball is open now; but look for our full registration to open soon.

Please also consider volunteering as a coach, assistant coach or any other volunteer positions in our winter programs.

SYA is committed to following all CDC, VA state and Fairfax county guidelines for return to play. Please visit our website and click on the header NEWS for all the documents.

For those that pre-register, we will notify you by email to go back to the registration site so you can complete a full registration along with your payment. We look forward to seeing you all soon. Stay safe!

Register Now for SYA Thanksgiving Turkey Trot!

SYA will be hosting our first Thanksgiving 3K and 5K races Thanksgiving morning, November 26.

Please join this neighborhood, family and pet friendly event on Thanksgiving Day. We will host two races: a 5K and a 3K ‘Fun Run’ for our younger participants and families. The races will be held on the beautiful trails at the SYA Sports Park. The event will be held rain or shine so be prepared for possible ‘Spartan mud run’.

Sign up now! Registration will close soon!!

SYA Sports Park: 6626 Bull Run Post Office Road, Centreville VA
Start Times: 3K – 8:30am, 5K – 10:00am

Register and Receive:
-Long sleeve race T-shirt
-Race timing provided by ‘Bishops Events’ Timing chips, numbers
-Access to the Turkey Trot Tailgate finish festival

2020 Registration Fees:

Individual: Adult $35; Youth. $30
Family (4 runners+) 15% off

In the event the races needed to be cancelled due to new Covid restrictions at that time, all registrations will rollover to the 2021 race or refunds maybe provided minus an admin fee.

Race participants are requested to wear a mask while in and around the start finish areas of the race. Masks do not need to be worn while running. If these protocols change participants will be notified.
SYA Holiday Candle Sale

SYA is having a holiday fundraiser; and we hope to have your support by buying your holiday candles from us! We are selling candles through the online store link below. The candles will ship directly to you! There is a large selection of quality candles for you to choose from and a portion of the proceeds will go to supporting SYA youth sports! 

Click this link to visit the store:


This will take you straight to the site and you can start your shopping. When you are ready to check out,  enter the SYA code - 201201.

The store closes on December 5, so please get your orders in soon!  We’re asking you to invite friends and family to visit our online store.  Happy shopping and happy holidays!

Thank you for supporting SYA – let's Capture the Moment!

Are You Ready For the Holidays? Are You an Amazon Shopper? Support SYA While You Shop!




For those Amazon shoppers, here is a way to shop and donate to SYA!
SYA is a registered organization in the Amazon Smile program. Amazon Smile is a simple way for you to support SYA every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you will find the same prices and selection as Amazon.com with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to SYA.

To participate go to smile.amazon.com/ch/51-0139457  and lock this in as your standard Amazon link so that you can donate easily to SYA! You only need to do this the 1st time you go to smile.amazon.com. Shop as you normally would and Amazon will donate 0.5% of your qualified purchase to SYA. It’s that simple!!
SYA's Fields of Dreams SPORTS PARK

* Note about dogs. SYA is pet friendly, however we must ensure the safety of our fields and our players. Please remember no dogs within 10' of any fields and
NO DOGS ALLOWED ON PLAYING FIELDS AT ANY TIME.
Please feel free to bring your pet, but please also keep your pet on a leash at all times and respect all participants and fans. Clean up after your pet. If you wander on our trails also be aware that there is wildlife that inhabit our woods, so please be careful and do not feed the wildlife. Thank you.

The Sports Park will shut down November 30 for the winter. Stay safe!

Located at 6626 Bull Run Post Office Rd, Centreville VA 20120
Visit our Sports Park website - click here
Get to Know Your SYA Board!
Each month we will highlight one of our SYA board members.

Meet our Soccer Commissioner Michael Baptiste!

Michael has been involved in Northern Virginia youth soccer with his kids for the last 25 years. From an early age, two of his greatest loves in life were soccer and aviation. Both of those areas of interest have played very significant roles in Michael’s life so far.
 
Michael’s interest in, and love for, the youth game has taken him from the ranks of spectator, to travel team manager, to D licensed coach, to now serving as SYA soccer commissioner.

He and his family joined the SYA family in 2015. Michael and his wife, Kristine, were looking for a suitable soccer home for his youngest daughter. They feel they found a great situation with SYA, with friendly, welcoming families, great coaching and a very professional atmosphere.
His daughter plays on SYA's U16G Red team, the VA State Cup Champions! Her experience has been full of exciting times, great relationships, and well-earned successes on the field.
 
Michael has not only retired from coaching, he has also retired from his 30 year career in air traffic control. He continues to keep active in the government contracting field relating to aviation training and air traffic system modernization. His "retired" status, affords him the luxury of spending valuable family time at the soccer fields on the weekends.
Michael accepted the role of Soccer Commissioner about two years ago, and he has found it both challenging and rewarding. There is no real blueprint for this job, you just adapt on a daily basis, especially in the age of Covid-19. Michael felt the same way about his 30 year career in ATC, so in that respect, he should be well prepared for this challenge.
Santa's Ride Toy Drive

Drop off a *NEW* unwrapped toy to help the Fairfax County Police Department's annual Santa’s Ride. For over 30 years, our Motor Squad has been delivering toys for the kids at the Inova Children’s Hospital and the Georgetown Hospital Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Anyone wishing to donate can bring a new, unwrapped toy, game, book, or other gift to the lobby of the Sully District Station (4900 Stonecroft Boulevard, Chantilly, VA) on Saturday, November 14, 2020, between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
Fairfax County Bond Passes!

What does this mean to SYA? Plenty! It means that FCPA will develop the first multi diamond complex in Fairfax County. It will have four 90' turfed and lit baseball fields as well as two 60' turfed and lit baseball/softball fields. This is exciting for SYA for many reasons. 

A little history: SYA developed a partnership about 20 years ago with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. That partnership allowed us to build the three existing ball fields that are currently known as LLV (Fields 1, 2 and 3). These fields are near Willow Springs Elementary. 

SYA has worked with the Board of Supervisors and the Park Authority in the transition from LLV to what is now known as Patriot Park North. With the passing of the Park Bond, Fairfax County now has the funds to complete this exciting project. 

Work will begin in the summer 2021 with completion planned for fall 2022. We will keep everyone up to date with upcoming schedules and planning. SYA is very excited to be a partner in this new project!
Life Lessons From the Playing Field

By Jim Thompson, founder and CEO of Positive Coaching Alliance


  • The “Little Picture” of the immediate success or failure of our children’s performance in youth sports obscures the vitally important “Big Picture” of the lessons they will learn from sports that will serve them throughout their lives.

  • Leadership is the release of energy, not telling people what to do. The best coaches get the most out of their players by getting them excited about how good they could be.

  • It’s crucial to get the mental model right! The prevailing “win-at-all-cost” model needs to be banished in favor of the Double-Goal Coach® who wants to win and use sports to teach life lessons.

  • Culture determines behavior. Although we like to see ourselves as independent actors, people are pack animals. We tend to conform to the expectations of the “teams” we want to be part of. It is essential to be explicit about norms for behavior in your sports program.

  • Fearing mistakes is worse than making them. It needs to be okay for kids to make mistakes in sports to unlock the potential for truly inspired performance.

  • People with full “Emotional Tanks” can surprise even themselves. So fill them!

  • Effort and enjoyment are entwined. There is no better place than sports to teach kids that hard work is fun.

  • Is there trickle-up potential for youth sports? Can kids learn lessons in sports that will make them more ethical adults? Yes.

  • Kids love to talk about sports so much they’ll even talk to their parents about it!

  • The game is short – enjoy the game. Your child’s experience with sports will end abruptly and when it does, you will wish you had not been so obsessed with how well your child did. You’ll wish you had fretted less and enjoyed it more.









Cheering the Right Way

From the PCA Parent Course, this article will discuss how to cheer on your athlete from the sidelines using a technique we call "No-Directions Cheering."

It’s disconcerting for athletes to have parents yell out instructions.

Avoid giving your child advice on the sidelines by committing to No-Directions Cheering. Eliminate verbs in your cheering because you can’t give advice without verbs. For example, “Pass the ball to Sarah” is a no-no because it uses the word “pass” as a verb to give directions. On the other hand, “Great pass, Sarah!” gives no directions. You’re just commenting (appreciatively) on what you see Sarah doing.

Here are some examples of No-
Directions Cheering:

  • “Great effort!”
  • “Good hustle!”
  • “Way to play defense!”
  • “Nice hit!”
  • “Terrific play!”
  • “Way to go!”

No-Directions Cheering is important because your child will do better if it’s his game. So provide encouragement without direction – or even enjoy the game in silence. The more space you leave him to be the actor – a proactive player rather than a puppet on a string – the better.
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SYA SPONSORS

Want to be a sponsor? Contact Scott below:

Questions? contact Scott Liskey - sliskey@syasports.org
All funds raised support the SYA Sports Park and All SYA SPORTS!
THANK YOU for Supporting the Southwestern Youth Association!
SYA (Southwestern Youth Association)
5950 Centreville Crest Lane
Centreville, VA 20121
703-815-3362
admin@syayouthsports.org
www.syasports.org
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