Tonight's NCAA Women's Basketball Championship is bereft of two PCA heroes. The first is Tara VanDerveer, whose Stanford team fell to Connecticut in Sunday's semi-final, and who will receive PCA's highest honor, the Ronald L. Jensen Award for Lifetime Achievement, at our National Youth Sports Awards sponsored by Deloitte, April 24 at Maples Pavilion.
The other is Courtney Paris, the Oklahoma star, who stood tall even after her team fell in Sunday's other semi. Despite the loss, Paris reminded her teammates to maintain decorum and gather for their traditional post-game prayer, gave an emotional post-game interview and has since maintained, as she promised before Sunday's game, that she would re-pay her scholarship if she did not win the national championship.
Soccer Coach E-Mail Saga, A Cautionary Tale
April 2, 2009--By now you may know of the Scituate, MA youth soccer coach forced to resign in the wake of this win-at-all-costs e-mail rant that he defended as satire. Regardless of this coach's intent, his new, probably-unexpected infamy serves as a cautionary tale against coaches using sarcasm and satire.
As tempting as they may be, and as funny as sarcasm and satire are among friends, they are almost always bad ideas in the context of youth sports. Coincidentally, PCA this weekend is conducting workshops for Scituate Little League, where our PCA Trainer will no doubt address this further!
Chicago HS Sports Proposal Mandates Coach Training
March 30, 2009--Chicago Public Schools (CPS) officials are working to correct the situation that "topped" PCA's "Bottom 10 Moments in Sports, 2008." Coaches caught on camera paddling players for their on-court mistakes prompted a proposed overhaul of CPS policy toward coaches.
The upside of the proposal is mandatory coach training, which PCA can provide. But the proposal also would ban "displays of temper" from coaches, which is open to interpretation and has some Chicago Sun-Times readers fuming about the "coddling" of our youth.
Happy Ending to Story of AYSO Teams, Ryan Seacrest
March 26, 2009 --Here is an excerpt from a wonderful e-mail addressed to PCA Founder and Executive Director Jim Thompson, sent by Jeff Fortune, who cites the original source as Coach Mike at http://onthepitch.org/.
Mr. Thompson -
I wanted to forward this story to you becasue it exemplifies what true coaching is all about. We, as coaches, do not just make the kids better players, we make them better people. This coach is doing that in our community.
It seems that whenever you see ‘youth soccer’ mentioned in the news, it’s some story about crazed soccer parents ruining their kid’s lives or some deviant, who also happened to be a soccer coach (making it even MORE newsworthy), being arrested. Yet those of us with kids playing or who coach see the good in youth soccer every day and you wish it would get the attention the bad does.
Well this is a story that is bound to get some media attention - the good kind.
In Southern California last weekend, AYSO teams were playing in a tournament to decide who would represent Southern California in the statewide championships held in Davis, CA. In the U10 Girls division, the Huntington Park American Eagles, coached by Maria Espinoza, won the right to go to Davis after defeating the Cypress Cyclones, coached by Bernadette Arizmendi. However, the Eagles were upset after their win, because they knew they could not afford to make the trip to Davis to play in the state championship. By default, since the Eagles could not attend, the 2nd place Cyclones would go to Davis representing Southern California.
Instead of preparing her team for the championships, Coach Arizmendi decided to try and raise some funds so the Eagles could attend and represent their region as the 1st place team. She asked her parents for donations and sent emails to various organizations asking for help. One of those emails went to local radio personality Ryan Seacrest, known to many as the host of American Idol.
Ryan is a radio personality at KIIS FM 102.7 whose show On Air with Ryan Seacrest is syndicated nationally. Understanding the heartbreak that the Eagles must be going through, he and his crew worked to find a way to get them to Davis for the championships. They contacted various businesses who might be able to help as well as the LA SOL, the new Los Angeles women’s professional soccer team.
Together they arranged for the Eagles to attend the tournament they had earned a spot in. With Coach Arizmendi and Coach Espinoza on the phone, Ryan told his listeners their story and let Coach Espinoza know that her Eagles would be able to play in Davis thanks in part to the efforts of Coach Arizmendi. They arranged a charter bus for the team and hotel rooms for them to stay in while at Davis.
The hotel restaurant will also host a reception for the girls the night they arrive. Ryan then brought in Shelby Russell, the marketing director for the LA SOL, who explained to the coaches that the LA SOL wanted both teams to attend their opening match this Sunday as their guests of honor at The Home Depot Center and to meet the players on the field before the match.
You can listen to the radio segment over at 102.7 KIIS-FM where they let the coaches know what was going on.
What an amazing story of sportsmanship and selflessness. Coach Arizmendi did a very selfless thing in trying to make sure the Eagles could attend the championship and a huge shout out to Ryan Seacrest and his team for not only arranging for their transportation and lodging, but doing so in style. This includes Patty Rodriguez, his producer.
Producers are often the silent heroes in stories like this, working to hammer out all the arrangements and details before the story is aired.
Same for the LA SOL, who will make fans for life of two teams of young soccer players.
Thank you,
Jeff Fortune
Values Rule Minnesota High School Hockey Tourney
March 25, 2009 -- One of the most encouraging articles in recent memory is Michael Farber's commentary on the Minnesota State High School Hockey Championship in Sports Illustrated. As a freshman at the University of Minnesota in 1982, I was stunned by the fanaticism surrounding the event, which at that time pre-empted network daytime TV.
Farber hails the values that keep five potentially elite players together in pursuit of the state title even at the expense of their individual shots at fame and fortune. Enjoy the read and its throwback vibe, which is similar to this item by Jim Thompson on the Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports blog.
Without saying so, Farber frames the "Faithful Five" as Triple-Impact CompetitorsTM, the PCA model of an athlete who strives to improve individually, improve teammates and improve the game.
-- David Jacobson, Marketing Communications Manager
McClymonds, Monte Vista Team to Warm Hearts
March 23, 2009 -- Last weekend's California Interscholastic Federation Division I championship featured an uncommon act of sportsmanship.
Defending champion McClymonds High School of Oakland, suffering from budget woes, could not afford an overnight stay in Sacramento for its team on Championship Eve, so parents from Danville's Monte Vista High School, which McClymonds had defeated in the semifinals, took up a collection. The Monte Vista community pulled together $1,100 to underwrite McClymonds' stay.
Congratulations to Monte Vista for Honoring the Game!