Youngsters learn sports basics, lessons at YMCA

Hundreds of youngsters shape themselves as athletes each year through the youth sports offered at the Vermilion YMCA of Greater Cleveland.

The Vermilion YMCA, located at 320 Aldrich Road, provides services to all ages from youth to seniors.

However, it’s the youth programs, like sports, that have the most involvement at the health and wellness facility, according to Sarah Augustitus, program director of Youth Sports and Wellness.

The YMCA offers programs such as We Run this City, the Youth Marathon Program, Community Youth Service, summer camps and their seasonal sports programs.

The organization’s sports programs have developed passions for youngsters through a number of sports offered; some like basketball and volleyball were created inside the walls of a YMCA facility, Augustitus said.

Providing athletics to young children is one of the YMCA’s core departments, she said.

“We’re here to serve the youth of our community, so it’s always been a part of the (YMCA) culture,” she said. “We are teaching the fundamentals as well as not being too competitive and developing (youngsters) as athletes and individuals.”

Today, children ages 3-13 at Vermilion’s YMCA are participating in sports like basketball, volleyball, flag football, cheerleading, gymnastics, soccer and baseball.

These sports are played in three different age divisions, during five different seasons.

Youth sports played during each season are:

• Winter — Jr. Cavs Basketball, Cheerleading and Gymnastics from January to March

• Spring — Soccer and Flag Football from March t0 June;

• Summer — T-ball, Coach Pitch Baseball and Basketball from June to August

• Fall — Soccer, Flag Football and Cheerleading from August to October

• Early winter — Jr. Cavs Basketball, Volleyball and Cheerleading from October to December.

Augustitus said certain sports have a higher participation rate than others like their Jr. Cavs program, where youngsters from different communities other than Vermilion join.

Other sports with a higher participation are volleyball and regular season basketball, she said.

“Basketball (overall) is our biggest program,” Augustitus said. “We can’t hold everything at our facility because we have teams ages 3 to 13, about 150 kids at most (per basketball season) and teams of 10 kids.”

She said the Vermilion YMCA has partnerships with the school district and the city which provide courts and fields during games and most practices.

In the gymnastics program’s third year, their competitive team went to the YMCA Gymnastics Nationals in Toledo this past June for the first time ever. Augustitus said the Vermilion branch is the only in the Greater Cleveland organization to have a competitive team, but all have the gymnastics program.

She added that this summer was the first for a youth outdoor volleyball league, which started off its first year with 15 kids.

“That’s a pretty good number,” she said. “It went pretty well.”

Augustitus said all sports are the same at each Greater Cleveland branch, but what makes Vermilion unique through their youth programs and as an organization is that they are very community oriented.

She said with their smaller-sized facility, staff and volunteers can create more hands-on support and coaching.

“I feel that we can invest more time into our kids and help them grow in our programs,” she said. “I love that we’re so involved.”

Having better hands-on experience improves relationships with the youngsters and makes them feel welcome when beginning an athletic journey, she said.

As a director, she and her staff strive to form close relationships with all guests, including youth.

She said staff, parents or others in the community who volunteer to coach, can hold special roles for children and influence their growth.

“We’re here to teach the fundamentals of sports at the (YMCA),” Augustitus said. “You can find anyone who said they went to the YMCA for youth sports. This is the basics any kid is getting from the bottom foundation for any sport they may want to play in life.”

She said it’s also their responsibility to teach youngsters the YMCA’s core values — responsibility, respect, caring and honesty.

“We as coaches, staff and volunteers teach you how to dribble a ball, but we also try to incorporate our core values in their programs,” she said.

Augustitus, now 24, recalls being involved with the YMCA association since she was 5 and in their gymnastics program at a Greater Cleveland Branch near her hometown of Willoughby.

“I’m a lifelong member of the (YMCA),” she said.

“I’ve been with the organization for the last nine years teaching classes and even became certified in fitness.”

She added she’s also been a camp counselor while continuing her gymnastics venture growing up.

“I just love this organization,” she said.