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PCA Updates

Baden Youth Association Extends Partnership with Positive Coaching Alliance to Benefit Youth Athletes

12.11.2019

December 5, 2019 – The Baden Youth Association has extended its partnership with the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), a national non-profit movement developing “Better Athletes, Better People” by working to provide all youth and high school athletes a positive, character-building sports experience.

The partnership provides Baden Youth Association constituents with access to PCA’s training, tools and resources for coaches, sports parents, youth athletes and administrators through live group workshops, online courses, books by PCA Founder Jim Thompson and additional online resources.

PCA has partnered with roughly 3,500 schools, districts, conferences, youth sports organizations and park-and-rec departments to create a Development ZoneTM culture, where the goal is using youth and high school sports to develop stronger social-emotional learning and leadership and reasoning developmental opportunities.

“The amount of impact sports can have on the development of young people in communities like Baden is tremendous.” said PCA-Cleveland Partnership and Development Manager, Ryan Virtue. “The Baden community is very fortunate to have passionate leaders like Harley and the BYA Board who understand the importance of creating a positive youth development culture and we are excited to continue to support their commitment to developing better athletes and better people.”

“Partnering with the PCA was a no-brainer for our organization,” said Harley Ellenberger, President of the BYA.  “We’ve had a long-standing tradition of focusing on player development and teaching valuable life lessons through the sport of baseball.  The quality of our programs continues to improve as our Board and Coaches apply what we learn using PCA resources.  I’d love to see more of our local youth sports organizations adopt a similar mission and take advantage of the opportunity we have to better prepare our younger generation for future success through youth sports programs.”

For information about this partnership, please contact either Ryan Virtue (PCA-Cleveland) or Harley Ellenberger (Baden Youth Association).

About Positive Coaching Alliance

Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) is a national non-profit organization with the mission of creating a positive, character-building youth sports environment that results in BETTER ATHLETES, BETTER PEOPLE.

Youth sports currently involves 40M children, which presents a tremendous platform on which to develop youth character and life skills. Research has shown that in order for youth to accrue these benefits from sports, sports needs to be done in a way that creates a positive youth development culture. PCA ensures sports are ‘done right’ with programming that is research-based and designed to have an impact at three levels in a youth sports organization or school:

  • Youth experience improved life skills and character development.  They also perform better!
  • Coaches become more positive and increase their focus on using sports to teach life lessons.
  • Youth Sports Organizations & Schools see their cultures become more positive and everyone involved has more fun.

Since its founding in 1998, PCA has established 18 chapters nationwide, partnered with roughly 3,500 schools and youth sports organizations to deliver more than 20,000 live group workshops, reaching 19.2 million youth. PCA offers interactive online courses and has thousands of multimedia tips and tools for coaches, parents, athletes, and leaders available free of charge on PCADevZone.org. PCA also runs two annual awards programs: a scholarship program for high school student-athletes and a coach award program to recognize youth and high school coaches who strive to win and teach life lessons.

PCA gains support from a National Advisory Board of elite coaches, professional and Olympic athletes, organization leaders, and academics who share PCA’s mission including Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach, Lindsay Gottlieb and others such as Joe Thomas, Dusty Baker, Carol Dweck, Herm Edwards, Julie Foudy, Phil Jackson, and Steve Kerr. PCA is proud to partner with more than 50 national governing bodies, youth serving organizations and professional leagues and teams including Boys & Girls Club of America, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and US Lacrosse.

To learn more about Positive Coaching Alliance, contact: Ryan Virtue (ryan_virtue@positivecoach.org) or visit www.positivecoach.org.

About Baden Youth Association

The Baden Youth Association (BYA) is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to the development of youth through the sport of baseball.  We provide instructional, family-oriented baseball and tee-ball programs to local youth ages 3 through 10.  Our goals are to instill a passion for the game of baseball in each of our players by teaching the virtues of sportsmanship and team play, and to develop our players to compete at higher levels using safe and well-maintained playing facilities.  The BYA is managed entirely by volunteers including a Board of Directors, coaches and parents who believe in the life-long benefits that baseball provides. 

The BYA has been a fixture in the Baden community for many decades and we are committed to carrying on the tradition for many years to come.  We are proud of the legacy that this organization has provided to our community and are continuously building our programs to support future growth and success.

For more information about Baden Youth Association, please visit http://www.badenyouth.org/.



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