Decemeber 2, 2019 - The US Lacrosse North Coast Ohio Chapter is pleased to announce a new 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 will provide the forty-five youth and middle school community and school-based boys and girls programs of the North Coast Ohio Chapter 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 growth of the sport of Lacrosse in Northeast Ohio over the past several years has been impressive.” Said PCA-Cleveland Partnership and Development Manager, Ryan Virtue. “We look forward to working with the North Coast Ohio Chapter to provide additional tools, resources and training for their Coaches to help that growth continue.”

“We are proud to team up with the Positive Coaching Alliance,” said Kevin McKeigue, US Lacrosse North Coast Ohio Chapter Director. “Our Chapter represents over 3,000 youth and Middle School boys and girls learning to play the sport of lacrosse.  The Alliance’s focus of creating a positive, character-building youth experience and teaching life lessons through sports will provide a great resource for our program directors and coaches. The Alliance’s leadership and guidance will assist our Chapter in developing the next-generation of coaches that grow the game by providing a positive and competitive experience for school-aged children while promoting sportsmanship, respect, leadership and community”. 

For information about this partnership, please contact either Ryan Virtue (PCA-Cleveland) or Kevin McKeigue (US Lacrosse North Coast 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/.

About US Lacrosse North Coast Ohio Chapter Youth Lacrosse 

US Lacrosse North Coast Ohio Youth Lacrosse consists of over forty-five community- and school-based lacrosse programs made up of boys and girls in grades 3 through 8 located in the Cleveland, Akron, Canton, and Toledo areas. The Chapters’ membership includes over 3,000 boys and a girl learning to play lacrosse. The Chapter is dedicated to the growth of the sport of lacrosse through responsive and effective leadership while providing programs and services that inspire participation.

For more information about the US Lacrosse North Coast Ohio Chapter, please visit https://www.uslacrosse.org/.

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