2008 ASA Girl's 14u, 16u, and 18u Class "B" Fastpitch Eastern National Championship

 

OLYMPIC HOPEFUL OR RECREATIONAL PLAYER:

 

LIBERTY MUTUAL RESPONSIBLE SPORTS PROGRAM HELPS

 

PARENTS AND COACHES ENHANCE A CHILD’S SPORTS EXPERIENCE

 

 

Award Nominations and Grant Applications Celebrating Coaches and Organizations Fostering Positive Youth Sports Environments Now Open at ResponsibleSports.com

 

 

BOSTON, June 16, 2008 –  As our nation turns its attention to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, many of the more than 35 million U.S. children who play youth sports will tune in to see who will become America’s newest athletic heroes, while at the same time dreaming of someday achieving similar feats of glory themselves.

 

 

While playing at this elite level is extremely rare – just one in 50,000 high school athletes will ever become part of a professional team, according to Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sports in Society – organized sports can positively impact children regardless of playing ability.  The caveat:  children benefit most when there is good teamwork between the coach, parents and community.

 

 

The Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports program, created in partnership with Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), US Youth Soccer, USA Football and its new partner – the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) – provides resources for parents and coaches at www.responsiblesports.com  to help children reap the full benefits of playing a team sport.  The online community incorporates blogs and videos on youth sports topics that provide practical, real-world advice.  Parents and coaches also can complete coursework that offers best practices for handling challenging sports scenarios.

 

 

“In our win-at-all costs culture, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture of the role sports can play in your child’s life,” says Jim Thompson, Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports spokesman, and founder and executive director of Positive Coaching Alliance, an organization that has provided workshops to more than 300,000 youth sports leaders, coaches, parents and athletes.  “It’s important that we emphasize and celebrate the positive aspects of youth sports and encourage communities to focus on the valuable teaching opportunities that sports present.”

 

 

Responsible Coaching Awards and Responsible Sports Grants

 

Liberty Mutual is celebrating this power of youth sports by recognizing 50 coaches across the country that have demonstrated safe, rewarding and positive sports environments for children.  Parents, administrators, and fellow coaches may nominate a local mentor for a Liberty Mutual Responsible Coaching Award from June 8 through August 31 at www.responsiblesports.com.  Winners – one from each state, and selected by a committee including PCA, ASA, US Youth Soccer and USA Football – will receive a $250 award from Liberty Mutual to help fund his or her team.

 

 

“Every day in communities across the country, coaches impart valuable life lessons about leadership, cooperation, and integrity,” said Greg Gordon, Liberty Mutual Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing.  “Liberty Mutual honors responsible coaching because it is one of the clearest examples of a positive influence a person’s actions have on young people, their families, and entire communities.”

 

 

Additionally, youth sports organizations can apply online at www.responsiblesports.com  for one of twenty $2,500 Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports grants.  Liberty Mutual will reward those organizations who have the most individuals in their community complete the online Responsible Sports curriculum on their behalf.

 

 

The Critical Role of Parents in Youth Sports

 

Research shows that when parents and teachers work together, a child tends to do better in school. It is the same with coaches and parents in organized team sports.

 

 

“I’ve been coaching for over 27 years and have seen the tremendous influence parents can have on their child’s experience,” says Mike Candrea, head coach of the USA Women’s National Softball Team that will compete in Beijing, and winner of eight NCAA national championships as head coach of the University of Arizona.  “At all levels, coaches like engaged parents.  When a coach and parent have a mutual understanding about goals and expectations the player often does pretty well – both on and off the field.”

 

 

 

Below are five key from ResponsibleSports.com to help parents prepare as their child begins any team sport.

 

 

1.  Establish an early positive relationship with the coach. It will be much easier to communicate later should a problem arise.

 

2.  Fill the coach’s emotional tank.  Just about every coach does a lot of things well. Take the time to look for those things, and when you see something you like, let him or her know about it.

 

3.  Don’t put the player in the middle.  It’s much easier for a child to put his or her best effort forward if parents show support for the coach.  If you have a concern, take it up with the coach privately.

 

4.  Emphasize attributes other than winning.  Children can take games very seriously, but they quickly forget their disappointments and move on, showing that winning and losing isn’t everything.

 

5.  Don’t give instructions during a game or practice.  It can be extremely confusing to your child and distracting to other parents and fans to hear someone other than the coach yelling out instructions.

 

 

Additional Responsible Sports parenting tips can be found at www.responsiblesports.com.  The parenting section also provides expert advice on sports safety, setting goals with your child, tips for communicating with your young athlete and coach, and more, all in the context of practical examples.

 

 

About Liberty Mutual Group

 

“Helping people live safer, more secure lives” since 1912, Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group is a diversified global insurer and sixth-largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2007 direct written premium.  Liberty Mutual Group ranks 94th on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. corporations, based on 2007 revenue.  The company has over 41,000 employees located in more than 900 offices throughout the world.

 

 

The eighth-largest auto and home insurer in the U.S., Liberty Mutual (www.libertymutual.com) sells full lines of coverage for automobile, homeowners, valuable possessions, personal liability, and individual life insurance.  The company is an industry leader in affinity partnerships, offering car and home insurance to employees and members of more than 10,000 companies, credit unions, professional associations and alumni groups.

 

 

 

 

About Positive Coaching Alliance

Since its founding within the Stanford University Athletic Department in 1998, PCA has conducted roughly 6,000 live group workshops nationwide for more than 300,000 youth sports leaders, coaches, parents and athletes.  PCA trains workshop attendees to create a positive, character-building environment for youth athletes, replacing the prevalent win-at-all-cost mentality.

 

PCA has affected more than 3 million youth athletes through partnerships with 1,100-plus youth sports organizations, cities and schools that host workshops across the U.S., primarily near PCA’s hub markets of Northern California, Southern California, Chicago, Hawaii, Houston, New York City and Washington, D.C.  Thousands of other coaches and parents learn PCA methods via online courses at www.PositiveCoach.org.  

 

 

 

About ASA

 

The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 83 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit www.asasoftball.com.

 

 

About US Youth Soccer

 

US Youth Soccer - The Game for ALL Kids!® is the largest youth sports organization in the country and largest member of the United States Soccer Federation, the governing body of soccer in the United States. US Youth Soccer registers more than 3.2 million players annually, ages 5 to 19, and over 900,000 administrators, coaches and volunteers in 55 member state associations. US Youth Soccer programs provide a fun, safe and healthy environment for players at every level of the game.  For more information, visit www.USYouthSoccer.org.

 

 

About USA Football

 

USA Football is the National Governing Body leading the game’s development on youth, high school, and international amateur football.  For more than four decades (since 1965), according to the Harris Poll, football stands as America’s most popular sport.  Among high school boys, more than 1.1 million play tackle football, which more than doubles the next-most popular sport.  USA Football provides programs and resources to further inspire participation and to enhance the quality of the game.  USA Football was endowed by the NFL and NFL Players Association in 2002.  For more information, log on to www.USAFootball.com.