Youth Sports Philosophy

We have provided an explanation of our philosophy of youth sports so that you can better understand our goals and help us to achieve them.

Development

Our main emphasis is on the development of each child in our program. The three areas of a child's development we are concerned about are:

• Physical development, by learning skills and improving fitness and conditioning.
• Psychological development, by learning to control their emotions and developing positive feelings of self-worth.
• Social development, by learning how to be a part of a team and display appropriate sportsmanship behavior.

We feel that the best environment for a child to develop in these areas is an environment where there is no pressure to win. If we strive to encourage each child to do their very best and not be concerned about winning, then we feel like each child will be able to experience personal success and growth - and that's a winning program.

Guidelines

To help create this type of atmosphere, we have instituted the following guidelines:

• Every child plays in every game.
• For safety reasons: no jewelry, pants or shorts with pockets shall be worn during games or practices. The uniform jersey issued to each player shall not be altered in any way. Any participant who fails to follow the above guidelines will not be allowed to play until the offense is corrected.
• Junior and Senior Leagues and Boys Intermediate League will receive first and second place trophies. All other leagues will receive participation certificates.
• There are no post-season tournaments.

In summary, we value playing the game for its developmental and safety benefits more than we value playing to win. We hope to have a great season! Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions.

Thank you for your time, Parks and Recreation Staff

Children First Winning Second

Policy Statement

It has come to our attention that for the past few seasons, several teams have chosen to supply participants with individual trophies, uniforms (shorts and socks), and/or pictures. The Division of Parks and Recreation requests that coaches and parents discuss the purchase of these additional items prior to any decision being made. Furthermore, we want parents to know that they are not obligated to supply their child/children with these additional items even if the teams decide to do so.

York County's goal is to treat all participants equitably with regards to recognition of participation and therefore supplies participation certificates to every 3rd to 6th grade child. This equity is often disrupted or confused when some teams purchase trophies and others do not. It also can cause problems within families that have more than one child participating in the program. Because of these issues, we prefer that individual trophies not be purchased as a "team decision" but instead through an individual "family decision." Under these conditions, trophies could be given to the child at home and the County's participation certificates could be awarded as a team function.

We hope this clarifies our position on these issues. Please feel free to contact us at 757-890-3500 if you have any questions or comments.