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Cavaliers Academy Youth Basketball Program Partners with Positive Coaching Alliance to Benefit Youth Athletes

10.28.2019


October 28, 2019, CLEVELAND, OH– The Cleveland Cavaliers have established a new partnership with 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 provides the Cavaliers Academy youth basketball coaches with access to PCA’s training for coaches, sports parents, student-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 Zone® culture, where the goal is using youth and high school sports to develop stronger social-emotional learning and leadership and reasoning developmental opportunities.

“The Cavaliers already have a strong commitment to the youth in our region through their Jr. Cavs program and we look forward to helping them elevate that commitment to the mental development of our youth even further.” Said PCA-Cleveland Partnership and Development Manager, Ryan Virtue. “Simply put, when done right, sports teach.  We look forward to bringing our research-based philosophies to expand the growth mindsets of coaches, young athletes and parents.”

“We are proud to team up with Positive Coaching Alliance,” said Len Komoroski, CEO of the Cavaliers and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. “Through our Cavs Youth Basketball Program, we are committed to motivating the youth of Cleveland and the entire community to be active and build confidence in themselves through the game. Our program aligns seamlessly with the Alliance’s commitment to provide young athletes a character-building sports experience.”

For information about the dates and locations of these workshops, please contact either Ryan Virtue (PCA-Cleveland) or Kerry Woloszynek (Cleveland Cavaliers).

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 Cavaliers new Assistant Coach Lindsay Gottlieb, 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)

About The Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Championship in 2016 while also taking the Eastern Conference crown in 2007, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. The team plays at, and also operates, the newly transformed, publicly-owned Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers are regularly recognized for their extensive community support and engagement programs and contributions, workplace diversity and inclusion leadership, and an on-going economic impact that now registers in the billions of dollars locally.  Dan Gilbert is Chairman of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Gilbert and his family of companies have now invested nearly $2 billion in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. Gilbert is also Founder and Chairman of Quicken Loans, Inc. the nation’s largest mortgage lender, and Founder and Chairman of Rock Ventures LLC, the umbrella entity for his portfolio of business and real estate investments. Len Komoroski is the Cavaliers and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse CEO and Nic Barlage is the Cavaliers and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse President of Business Operations. The Cavaliers team is led by General Manager Koby Altman and Head Coach John Beilein. The Cavaliers and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse provide fans the best experience in the NBA with its extensive and stunning array of amenities and technology and signature, electrifying game presentation. The organization also owns and operates the Cleveland Monsters hockey team (AHL), the Canton Charge, the Cavs NBA G-League team in nearby Canton, OH, and Cavs Legion Gaming Club (GC) of the NBA 2K League.

For more information about the Jr. Cavs Program, please visit https://www.cavsyouth.com/.

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