The PCA Blog - Tampa Bay

PCA-Tampa Bay's Character Development Program Launches for Summer 2019

06.25.2019


June 10 marked the start of PCA –Tampa Bay’s Character Development Program aimed at elementary and middle school-aged children participating in summer camps in Hillsborough County Parks & Recreation, Pasco County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay. The summer program will reach nearly 3,000 youth and will focus on PCA’s key principles –filling Emotional Tanks, ELM Tree of Mastery, and Honoring the Game through ROOTS.


The Character Development Program consists of 54 daily lessons that will be integrated into each center and club schedule. Each lesson is a combination of activities and discussions lead by PCA Certified coaches to help the children understand how to apply the program’s principles at camp, home, school, and in the community.

“We are excited to expand this newer program from six locations to 22,” said Mason Cathey Brady, Executive Director of PCA - Tampa Bay. “Last year, we were able to impact about 1,000 kids and now we, together with the Tampa Bay community, are able to work with and impact triple the number of kids.”

The expansion of the program into Pasco is well received by Pasco County resident Trey Starkey, PCA board member and CEO of Starkey Family Real Estate Investments. “I could not be more ecstatic about PCA coming into Pasco County, as their principles will have a deep, lasting, lifelong impact on very many young people.”

The partnerships with Hillsborough County Parks & Recreation, Pasco County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay, and PCA-Tampa Bay have been made possible by generous contributions from BayCare Health Systems, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Spurlino Foundation, SunTrust Foundation, Hillsborough County and Pasco County. We are all very thankful for their support and the ultimate beneficiaries will be our community of nearly 3,000 youth that have the opportunity to develop positive character this summer!

Stay updated on the program by checking us out on social media!

Website: TampaBay.PositiveCoach.org

Twitter: @PCA_TampaBay

Facebook: /PCATampaBay

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 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:

Casey Miller
Director of External Relations 
casey_miller@positivecoach.org
650-210-0814