Mike Ditka to deliver keynote at NAYS Youth Sports Congress in San Diego
Mike Ditka – Hall of Fame NFL coach and ESPN analyst – will be the keynote speaker at this year’s National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) Youth Sports Congress on Dec. 1-4 in San Diego, Calif., which is held in conjunction with the Athletic Business Conference & Expo.
Ditka will also be presenting the prestigious Excellence in Youth Sports Awards, sponsored by Athletic Business and NAYS, America’s leading advocate for positive and safe sports for kids.
The Congress – the preferred venue for all professionals involved in youth sports – is a three-day comprehensive educational training that covers cutting edge topics in the field of youth sports. “Da Coach” or “Iron Mike” played for and coached the Chicago Bears for 17 seasons. He coached the Bears from 1982 to 1992, compiling a win-loss record of 112-68 during that time. He guided the Bears to six NFC Central Division titles, in addition to three NFC title games.
Youth football league in California bans carpooling to help protect players
For more than 25 years Don Gauthier has run the La Mirada (Calif.) Pop Warner Football league without any major incidents involving adults and children.
That all changed recently when a coach from his league was charged with nine counts of child molestation involving various children he was carpooling with to and from games.
Although this isolated case was the first of its kind during Gauthier’s tenure, he decided he was going to do whatever was in his power to prevent it from happening again – even if that meant prohibiting carpooling between players and coaches.
“Carpooling with coaches is common, especially for the away games,” said Gauthier, president of La Mirada Pop Warner Football. “Often parents can’t take the kids because they’re working or have other obligations.”
NYSCA volunteer coaches embracing Coach Rating System
As a youth sports coach in Highlands Ranch, Colo., Jason Ivey devotes countless hours running practices, helping children develop skills and making sure their game days are fun-filled ones. But, like so many other volunteer coaches toting clipboards and juggling chaotic schedules these days, he has never been able to accurately gauge how well he is performing
Several new communities establish NAYS chapters to benefit youngsters
Several new communities across the country recently established chapters with the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS), adding to the more than 3,000 leagues, organizations and military bases that currently utilize its wide variety of programs worldwide.
By becoming official NAYS Chapters, these communities are training and educating their More...
Tulsa’s Hedy Behzadi: An inspiration to players and parents
The following article was contributed by Dr. Jamie Blevins:
At the earliest possible age we want our children to get involved in sports, especially Dads, because we used to play them as kids and maybe even were good at it. As parents sign their kids up for a sport many find out their child is not very good at it or even ready to play, don’t want to play because Dad or Mom is putting too much More...
Mike Ditka – Hall of Fame NFL coach and ESPN analyst – will be the keynote speaker at this year’s National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) Youth Sports Congress on Dec. 1-4 in San Diego, Calif., which is held in conjunction with the Athletic Business Conference & Expo. 
For more than 25 years Don Gauthier has run the La Mirada (Calif.) Pop Warner Football league without any major incidents involving adults and children.
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As a youth sports coach in Highlands Ranch, Colo., Jason Ivey devotes countless hours running practices, helping children develop skills and making sure their game days are fun-filled ones. But, like so many other volunteer coaches toting clipboards and juggling chaotic schedules these days, he has never been able to accurately gauge how well he is performing.jpg)
Several new communities across the country recently established chapters with the National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS), adding to the more than 3,000 leagues, organizations and military bases that currently utilize its wide variety of programs worldwide. 
The following article was contributed by Dr. Jamie Blevins:
