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PCA-Cleveland and WEWS News 5 Cleveland Launch New Community Initiative: #SportsLoveLetter

06.22.2020


CLEVELAND – Positive Coaching Alliance-Cleveland is pleased to announce a new partnership with WEWS News 5 Cleveland and the launch of a new community initiative called #SportsLoveLetter.  Through this initiative, athletes, coaches, sports parents, and officials will have an opportunity to write and record a letter to their sport to express what they miss most about the game and what they are looking forward to when competition returns.  Each week a video will be selected and aired on WEWS News 5 Cleveland.  The campaign will air during the 6:00 p.m. time slot weekly on Fridays from June 19 through August 28.  It will also be highlighted during the Sports Sunday segment at 11:30 p.m.

For more information and to participate, please visit WEWS News 5's Sports Love Letter page.


“The Positive Coaching Alliance does such impactful work around Northeast Ohio—and nationwide—to make the sports world a better place for our children and adults", said Jon Doss, a Sports Anchor at WEWS News 5 Cleveland. “We’re extremely excited to pair with the PCA to give some of our region’s coaches and athletes the chance to tell their own stories during one of the most unique periods in American sports history".

There are four specific goals of this initiative:

  1. Provide athletes, coaches, sports parents and officials an outlet to communicate their feelings and emotions. Expressing feelings are a valuable coping technique to build or enhance emotional well-being.
  2. Provide an opportunity for individuals to effectively communicate their feelings and emotions with others who care about individual well-being and who will listen and empathize with your situation.
  3. Shine a brighter light on the most important aspects of sport and why they are important for social and emotional development.
  4. Increase awareness of the Positive Coaching Alliance movement in Northeast Ohio.

“Sports, when done right, are arguably the greatest platform for positive youth development. Sports bring joy, pride, and a sense of togetherness within communities," mentioned Ryan Virtue, Partnership and Development Manager of PCA-Cleveland. “Although we may not know exactly when, we do know that sports will return and through this #SportsLoveLetter initiative, we hope to highlight the aspects of sport that are most important to our athletes and the adults that support them and elevate the excitement for when competition returns. We are incredibly thankful to Jon Doss and WEWS News 5 Cleveland for providing such a valuable platform for our community to share their stories.”

About PCA-Cleveland

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 need 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 a school environment:

  • 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 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, 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.

The Cleveland Chapter of the Positive Coaching Alliance was founded in 2011 by then General Manager of the Cleveland Indians and current President/General Manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, Mark Shapiro.

For more information about this campaign or to learn more about the PCA Movement in Ohio, please reach out to Ryan Virtue at ryan_virtue@positivecoach.org.