By James Lomuscio
Stuart McCarthy says that the national 2011 Excellence in Youth Sports award to be presented to the Westport Parks and Recreation Department next month is “not about teaching kids to play ball.”
Westport’s PAL football program led by Carmen Roda (l) is one of the Westport sports programs that benefits from the town’s participation in the National Alliance for Youth Sports. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
“It’s about teaching adults how to treat kids properly in an youth sports setting,” said McCarthy, parks and recreation director.
That means no angry adults who put undue pressure on children to win, be they frustrated athletes or parents wanting to live vicariously through their children,
The award will be presented by the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) at the group’s Youth Sports Congress to be held from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 in Orlando, Fla.
“We’re honored to be recognized by the National Association of Youth Sports,” said McCarthy.
Headquartered in West Palm Beach, Fla., NAYS is a nonprofit “advocate for positive, safe sports and activities for children,” according to its website. It has more than 3,000 community-based youth sports programs nationwide, where the emphasis is on the training of coaches and parent volunteers.
“Life-long skills are often learned at a young age,” said John Engh, NAYS’s chief operating officer. “The National Alliance for Youth Sports applauds the Town of Westport’s Parks and Recreation Department for their commitment to providing the children in their program with positive, rewarding opportunities through youth sports.”
McCarthy credited Karen Puskas, parks and recreation program manager, for getting Westport involved in NYAS nearly a decade ago.
“We do that through education programs,” said McCarthy.
“We bring the coaches into our office, every mom and dad that wants to coach a youth program. They have to sit and spend time with us, and we go through an educational program where we talk about what’s important.
“We’re trying to get people before they get involved, before they have a negative impact, to make them be positive role models,” he added.
McCarthy his department launched NAYS through its basketball program, “the one program we run in-house. It quickly attracted other town sports organizations.
“This award is for the entire Westport athletic community,” he added. “While we are the named recipient, it is clear that we are all partners in making this happen.”
Puskas agreed, citing participation by the Westport Soccer Association, Westport Baseball and Softball, Westport Basketball Association, Westport Police Athletic League’s football, cheerleading, wrestling, basketball, track and lacrosse teams, Westport Field Hockey Association and the Westport-Weston Family Y’s basketball team.
“While our department has led the way in the campaign to make youth sports in Westport an encouraging and constructive experience in a sound environment, a lot of the credit goes to the community’s youth sports providers who have worked hand-in-hand with us to make it happen,” said Puskas.
“The vast majority of coaches are great role models for children,” said McCarthy. “We’re trying to get to the point where all of the adults are great role models for children.”
