Youth Sports and Wellness

"Healthy Minds build Healthy Bodies"

As an extension of the Prime Time After School Program, our Youth Sports/Wellness Coordinators educate students on the importance of healthy eating and proper nutrition, provide guidelines and examples of proper exercise that stimulate healthy muscle growth and development, and coordinate well organized co-ed youth sports activities like flag football, soccer, basketball and cheerleading.

Youth Sports provides an opportunity for kids of all ages to develop an appreciation of sports, learn fundamental skills and develop leadership skills...all while having fun! The emphasis is on everyone playing, not just winning. Coaching is by parents and other adult volunteers who care about the healthy development of all kids. Getting involved as a coach or team parent is a great way to build a better relationship with your own child. Our Youth Sports program is year-round and every 3 months we will offer our families a different sport.

We have teamed with the Atlanta Falcons and the Georgia Force to support our focus to target youth obesity in our community. This partnership enables us to provide structured and exciting activities that will get our children motivated and exercising. The Falcons and Force players and cheerleaders assist in our enrichment activities by playing games with our participants and talking with them to further educate them on the importance of receiving a good education. 

With the Arthur M. Blank Family Youth YMCA implementing the idea that "healthy minds build healthy bodies," the Metro Atlanta YMCA created the program Youth Fit For Life, which we put in our enrichment activities for 3 days out of the week for 45minutes a day. We educate our participants on 3 core components; the nutrition side offers updates and information regarding what foods to eat and how to eat properly. The behavior side gives our children the task of writing down their goals and learning how to accurately accomplish those to which they strive, and a physical aspect teaches our participants a host of games that will help strengthen their muscles and bones. The kids can then share these activities at home with family and friends.

Community

The Arthur M. Blank Family Youth YMCA's Youth Sports program is an extension of our highly popular Prime Time After-School program, and was created to target youth obesity in the Vine City community. We offer sports programs and fitness activities that will teach our students about proper nutrition and sportsmanship. With the partnership of the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Youth YMCA was able to create an after-school program that offers our participants a snack, homework assistance, practice and enrichment activities such as board games, arts & crafts, indoor/outdoor activities and much more.

This program is currently being offered to our participating schools of Herndon Elementary, M. Agnes Jones Elementary, Bethune Elementary and Centennial Place Elementary and is only open to students attending these schools. There are currently two divisions per team: Junior Division for our students Kindergarten-2nd grade and Senior Division for our students in 3rd-5th grades. Flag Football (in the fall) and Basketball (winter) Games are held every Tuesday (Juniors) or Thursday (Seniors) starting at 4:30pm. We are now offering Track for the spring season!

Click  HERE for our Youth Sports Website, powered by Quickscores.com!

Click HERE for Youth Sports FAQ.

Through the support of the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation Arthur M. Blank Family Youth YMCA Wellness Coordinators are assisting seven elementary schools with their physical education throughout the school day. Atlanta Falcons and Georgia Force football players and cheerleaders visit the schools regularly to encourage youth to become more physically active and to continue to get their education.

The initiative was put into place with a successful Kick-Off on Tuesday October 11, 2005 in which four of our participating program schools were able to schedule an hour of fun-filled exercise activities and games that were lead by each school’s respective P.E. Instructor, as well as trained Arthur M. Blank Family Youth YMCA staff and personnel. These activities and games were assisted by Atlanta Falcons players and cheerleaders, Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation representatives, CPY Directors, and a host of teachers and school staff.

• A partnership that was created with The Keith Brooking Foundation allowed us to successfully award over 60 pair of free sneakers to children participating in our Atlanta Falcons/Force Fitness Zone.
• A donation of over 7,000lbs of chicken from Tyson to aid those families during the winter holiday seasons.
• With the support of our Youth Sports/Wellness Coordinators we provide physical fitness activities for over 2,250 students during the school day and over 300 students enrolled in our after-school programs on a daily basis. Each Coordinator is strategically placed in each elementary school to assist the P.E. Instructor implement structured and fun activities that will assist in developing each child’s cardiovascular and muscular system to improve flexibility and increase knowledge of nutrition.
• In January we kicked off our Youth Fit For Life campaign that allows each child 45 minutes of excercise per day, three days a week for during the after-school session an opportunity to exercise and get fit instead of the pre-described 1hour each week.
• On March 6th, 2006, we successfully kicked off our Flag Football/Cheerleading program with our Arthur M. Blank Family Youth YMCA Prime Time participants and our partnering schools of M. Agnes Jones Elementary and Oglethorpe Elementary. At that time we had over 100 students signed up and participating as either Flag Football players or Cheerleaders, and this past season, we saw nearly 200 children participate!
• In February of this year, we opened up Youth Basketball to our after school programs. It was a tremendous success, as we had well over 100 kids playing basketball or cheerleading.
• At the beginning of this school year, The Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation and Arthur M. Blank Family Youth YMCA donated over 2,000 bookbags to every student attending M Agnes Jones, Centennial, Herndon and Bethune Elementary schools.  

Coaches & Referees
Your help in volunteering your time or assisting in finding other coaches is greatly appreciated! The Arthur M. Blank Family Youth YMCA relies on community and parent volunteers to coach its sports teams, and referee its games. All volunteers must fill out an application for volunteer service and undergo a background check. If you are interested in volunteering as a coach or referee, please contact Amelia Davis, Youth Sports and Wellness Director at (404) 724-9622 or by email at ameliad@ymcaatlanta.org. 

We are always looking for volunteers to coach and assist with our youth programs. For information on volunteering, please contact the us at 404-724-9622. YMCA programs provide physical fitness opportunities for youth that have few other options for structured, fun and safe activities. YMCA leagues develop teamwork skills while promoting healthy lifestyle choices and the value of exercise. The play that draws youngsters to youth sports can build lifelong positive attitudes, habits of healthy exercise and good nutrition, and ways to have fun as adults.

Thank you for your support, if you have any questions, comments or concerns please contact Amelia Davis at (404) 724-9622 or at ameliad@ymcaatlanta.org.