June 14th, 2021
Washington Youth Soccer Partners with Skyhawks to Bring More Fun to Grassroots Programs Across the State
Tukwila, Washington – June 14, 2021 The Washington Youth Soccer Association (WYS) has chosen Skyhawks Sports Academy (Skyhawks), powered by Stack Sports, as their Official Youth Sports & Camp Partner in a 5 year partnership kicking off in 2021.
With roots dating back to 1961, WYS now has over 93K kids that are involved with the program, and is a leader in grassroots activation. With the average child today spending less than three years playing a sport, grassroots engagement at the camp level plays a role in answering the question; “How do we strengthen our base and establish an environment that promotes a life-long love of the game?”
By partnering with Skyhawks, and through their nearly 200 member clubs, WYS is leading the charge to keep kids in the sport of soccer longer. This partnership combines over 100 years of soccer expertise to bring the fun back to families across Washington State.
“The Skyhawks team brings a level of energy and fun to grassroots camps that just cannot be matched,'' said Tony Roberts, Director of Partnerships & Innovation at Washington Youth Soccer. “With our mission to foster the physical, mental and emotional growth and development of the State of Washington’s youth. Working with someone who was focused on making sure kids had a great time at our camps and was also very experienced at delivering great events was very important to us. That’s why we are excited to Partner with Skyhawks and Stack Sports.”
Skyhawks® Sports Academy powered by Stack Sports, the leading provider of youth sports programs for children 2 to 14 years old, will operate camps with WYS across the state. These programs focus on fun ways to teach life lessons through soccer.
"The staff was great! The kids really responded to them and they made it fun and educational. Thanks to all for a job well done,” said Kelly D, Washington Soccer Parent in Mukilteo. “I also really liked that it was a long (6 hour) [session]. My son agreed it really helped to get him into shape for soccer season. Thanks."
“Every person has their own unique journey as an athlete,” said Jason Frazier, President of Skyhawks Sports Academy. “By partnering with Washington Youth Soccer we are working together to make sure that the journey for children in Washington is a positive one that hopefully lasts a lifetime. From the athlete’s first time kicking a soccer ball at a Tots class, through sport skill development in Skyhawks camps, and then on to play in WYS programs, the athlete’s wellbeing is put first, supporting a truly life-long love of the game. To top it off, having Skyhawks international headquarters based in Washington state makes this partnership that much more special.”
If you are interested in registering for a Skyhawks Sports program, please click HERE.
If you have the facility to run Skyhawks or Skyhawks STEM Sports® programs, but are lacking the personnel to run programming, we encourage you to contact us at 1-800-804-3509 or skyhawks@skyhawks.com
About Washington Youth Soccer Association
With roots dating back to 1961 WYS has grown to nearly 200 clubs serving over 93,000 participants across the state of Washington. It is our mission to foster the physical, mental and emotional growth and development of the State of Washington’s youth through the sport of soccer at all levels of age and competition.
About Stack Sports
With nearly 50 million users in 35 countries, Stack Sports is a global technology leader in SaaS platform offerings for the sports industry. The company provides world-class software and services to support national governing bodies, youth sports associations, leagues, clubs, parents, coaches, and athletes. Some of the largest and most prominent sports organizations, including the U.S. Soccer Federation, Little League Baseball and Softball, and Pop Warner Little Scholars, rely on Stack Sports technology to run and manage their organizations. Stack Sports is headquartered in Dallas and is leading the industry one team at a time focusing on three key pillars -- Play, Improve, and Engage. To learn more about how Stack Sports is transforming the sports experience, please visit www.stacksports.com.
March 6th, 2018
Skyhawks Franchise Group is hitting the road in 2018 with the opening of the first international SuperTots franchise in Suzhou, China in partnership with Amigo Sports Academy! Initial programs including SoccerTots, HoopsterTots, and PartyTots, in the Suzhou area will be available in early 2018.
Ms. Adel Xu, CEO of Amigo Sports Academy said, “We are very thrilled to begin a partnership with Supertots for the greater China region. Supertots is a leading American brand in sports instruction, and its high-quality program is a huge hit among Chinese audiences. Supertots will be a great addition and we are confident of taking our visions to the next level, delivering audiences more inviting programming and engagement opportunities in the years to come.”
About Amigo Sports Academy (ASA)
Amigo Sports Academy was established in 2016 and is dedicated in providing sports training and spreading American sports culture to aspiring youth. Amigo Sports Academy partners with Major League Baseball (MLB), and has collaboratively set up the MLB Suzhou Learning Center. We are aiming to bring American sports culture and trainings to students who love sports. In addition, we also have a partnership with the prestigious sports academy IMG, to promote all kinds of American sports, providing talented Chinese students with well-rounded sports trainings and opportunities
May 9th, 2017
This article was written by Skyhawks Franchise Owner Brett Gardner and is cross-posted from Redwood City Parks, Recreation & Community Sevices blog. Click Here To View The Original Aricle.
Much has been written over the past several years about specializing in one sport vs. letting kids play as many sportsas possible. There is all this literature that benchmarks what age kids should be when they specialize. I come down firmly in the camp of NEVER. Unless your child is an elite gymnast or dancer, there is no argument to be made for specializing in a sport. Ask professional athletes how many of them “specialized” in the sport they now play. I’d hazard a guess that the answer is none.
But, sports have gotten really out of hand thanks to the business model behind competitive sports. Coaches are hired to develop players for college sports programs. That’s what they are paid to do. I hear parents talking about this even with a team of eight-year-olds!
If you are reading this and you have teenagers, I hope you’re nodding your head in agreement. Parents of younger children, read on. Sports is not a career for your child. It’s an activity and it should be one of many.
But, more importantly, not all kids like sports. As the parent of two very athletic children and the owner of a company that runs sports camps, I should be shouting from rooftops about the benefits of sports. But, I have also seen what happens when kids are pushed too hard.
I am a big believer in the “try everything” model of parenting. You never know what’s going to stick. When my kids were little, we tried it all — from ball sports to gymnastics to theater to martial arts to dance. Some of it stuck and much of it didn’t. The questions we asked our kids were, “was it fun?” and “did you learn anything worthwhile?” Next, we asked them if they wanted to do that activity again.
With child number one, the answer was invariably, yes. With the other one, it was almost always, NO! Different kids, different interests. Even though child number one seemed to like everything and child number two seemed to hate most things, I still think the try everything model was good for both of them.
With limited time during the school year, we often used summer camps to let our kids try different activities. Many families didn’t understand why we would do this. If my daughter was “an athlete,” why weren’t we sending her only to sports camps? She plays ball sports nine months out of the year. Does she really need more sports at age eight? We thought it was far more important for her to experience different things. So we encouraged her to try science camps, cooking lessons, etc. She loved some of them and was less enthusiastic about others. But, she got to try something new, which was the most important thing.
As summer is looming, think about things your kids have never done before. It could be a new sport, like flag football. Or, it could be dance or robotics. Try everything. You just never know what will stick!
May 31st, 2016
Speaking at an MLB event at the Field of Dreams movie location, the newly elected Hall-of-Famer weighed in on the importance of playing multiple sports year round, rather than focusing solely on a single sport like baseball all year round.
“People think you have to play year around to be able to eventually play professional baseball or basketball or football. That’s simply not true,” Smoltz said. “I love where I grew up (Lansing, Mich.). Seasonal changes meant seasonal sports. I played three of them. The opportunity to get outside and play sports is one of the greatest things kids have.
“I know there are a lot of distractions, a lot of technology,” Smoltz said. “But playing year around, in places like the South and the West, is just not as advantageous as people think. The history of injuries, all the things that go on, that’s why places like here and Michigan and the Midwest, getting the opportunity to play seasonal sports and be athletic is something that ... parents, you just don’t understand how much time your children have.
“As a player who grew up and loves sports, who got a chance to play multiple sports, and that’s the reason I was able to play baseball as long as I did (21 years). It’s the reason, for the most part, that I stayed as healthy as I did. I didn’t consume myself with one sport."
If there's one thing Smoltz knows, its longevity. Smoltz pitched in the majors for 21 seasons with the Braves, Red Sox and Cardinals.
Sign up your young athlete for a new sport at a Skyhawks Sports Academy summer program! Find programs near you at Skyhawks.com/search
This article contains exerpts originally published on May 28 at bit.ly/1TluCPR
August 25th, 2014
Every flipping Fall I miss the deadlines for sports team signups. (It’s logical, really, because I miss spring signup for summer swim lessons, too) When it is still 90 degrees, I think it’s cruel to not only make us buy school supplies, but also register for soccer and football. But, yeah, sorry, LATE registration started JULY 25. What the--?
Part of why I wait so long to think about fall sports isn’t just that I’m putting off the end of summer, but that I’m cheap (or poor). Before I fork over hundreds of dollars to put my children onto any kind of team, I really need to be assured I’m going to get something out of it. I mean, like, I want to know that perhaps parenting will be easier, somehow, if they learn a fabulous life skill. Or if the coach will MAKE them do homework so I don’t have to bargain and threaten?
And I’ve found quite a bit of assurance, actually. Team sports not only build social skills and goal-setting. It turns out involvement—ANY involvement, not just star players and athletes (good news because my kids are, at best, merely “athletic”)--in team sports has big impacts on academic performance.
A 2013 study by the University of South Carolina and Pennsylvania State University surveyed 9,700 high school students aged 14-18, who spread across all races, communities and socioeconomic groups.
The study looked for correlations between students’ after-school activities and their school success, including the likelihood of moving on to higher education.
The researchers found team sports, more than academic and vocational clubs, and performing arts societies, have “a consistent and significant effect on students’ grades across all schools.” Specifically, they found team sports are “significantly related to higher GPA’s” and “a higher likelihood of completing high school.”
Also, a totally over-achieving doctor who heads the Division of Adolescent and School Health for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reviewed 50 studies that examined “the effect of school-based physical activity on academic performance and discovered that half of the studies showed positive associations and virtually none of the research demonstrated any negative impact” Dr. Howell Wechsler even found studies that proved short spans of physical activity help increase the length and intensity of concentration.
Short spans? Like camps and classes? Sweet! You can still register for volleyball, basketball and tennis through Skyhawks. Those classes and clinics start in October. When it is actually Fall.
Sources:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330445/Why-team-sports-really-improve-grades-Link-self-esteem-better-performance-classroom.html#ixzz3BBg1lHQS
www.cdc.gov, http://www.livestrong.com/article/506980-do-sports-help-improve-grades/