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PCA-Cleveland's Ryan Virtue Selected As Member of Greater Cleveland Sports Commissions Associate Board

01.14.2020

CLEVELAND – PCA-Cleveland’s Partnership and Development Manager, Ryan Virtue has been selected to serve as a member of Greater Cleveland Sports Commissions Associate Board. This group aids the non-profit organization in its mission to measurably improve the economy of Greater Cleveland and enrich the community by attracting, creating, managing and enhancing significant sporting and competitive events.

We are proud to welcome Ryan Virtue as a member of the Associate Board Class of 2020.” said Rachael Stentz-Baugher, VP of Administration and Development for Greater Cleveland Sports Commission. “Our partnership with PCA has been an incredible asset when developing community programming for underserved youth in Cleveland and we are excited to see what the future holds now that Ryan is onboard.”

Celebrating 20 years, Greater Cleveland Sports Commission (GCSC) is responsible for attracting over 200 sporting events which provide more than $811 million in economic activity to Northeast Ohio. More information on their 2020 hosted events is available at clevelandsports.org.

Greater Cleveland Sports Commission has been a partner of PCA-Cleveland since 2017. Through their partnership, PCA has delivered six workshops through their Youth Education through Sports (YES) program which provides Northeast Ohio’s underserved youth with experiences that illustrate how sports empower and prepare individuals for success in life. PCA-Cleveland plans to deliver at least four additional workshops over the next two years to support various YES Program initiatives.

As a member of the Associate Board, Virtue will assist the Sports Commission in generating ideas, creating advocacy and executing fundraising initiatives to further support its mission.

"The staff at Greater Cleveland Sports Commission is second to none and the impact they make on our community cannot be understated” said Virtue.  "I am looking forward to personally serving their mission while also developing further relationships that will expand awareness of the Positive Coaching Alliance movement here in Ohio."

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 https://positivecoach.org/chapters/cleveland/.