Good sports program for youth in S.Charlotte? (Matthews, Mint Hill: wedding, YMCA)

[footballfan80]

Moving to south charlotte have a 9 year old loves football,baseball where should we look?

[deecon]

MARA in Matthews has a ton of youth sports programs. marasports.org
We live in South Charlotte close to Providence/485 and its an easy distance for us.

[cball75]

MARA is great. Weddington Rec league, Porter Ridge Ath Assoc, Indian Trail Ath Assoc, Mint Hill Ath Assoc, I also think there is a south part athletic association.

[jlat]

Huge fan of Indian Trail's and Porter Ridge's programs. Just finished with MARA and probably won't go back in the fall. Was not really happy with their programs their board or their coaches. Definitely avoid WCWAA. Way over competitive coaches with winning the number one thing, one sided talent drafts and extremely cliquish.

[CouponJack]

Originally Posted by jlat

Huge fan of Indian Trail's and Porter Ridge's programs. Just finished with MARA and probably won't go back in the fall. Was not really happy with their programs their board or their coaches. Definitely avoid WCWAA. Way over competitive coaches with winning the number one thing, one sided talent drafts and extremely cliquish.

Jlat, "overcompetitiveness" is not immune to Weddington. Believe me, it happens everywhere (even in Indian Trail). It depends a lot on the coach of the team first.

However, everyone's view or take on overcompetiiveness is different.

Personally, competitive sports is good for the kids IMO. You wouldn't believe how many "non competitive" associations are out there because they are afraid that some kids might be "traumatized' if little Johnny makes an out or something to that effect.... give me a break....

to the OP, Park Sharon is also another association in S Charlotte.....

[winwinwin]

Originally Posted by CouponJack

Jlat, "overcompetitiveness" is not immune to Weddington. Believe me, it happens everywhere (even in Indian Trail). It depends a lot on the coach of the team first.

However, everyone's view or take on overcompetiiveness is different.

Personally, competitive sports is good for the kids IMO. You wouldn't believe how many "non competitive" associations are out there because they are afraid that some kids might be "traumatized' if little Johnny makes an out or something to that effect.... give me a break....

to the OP, Park Sharon is also another association in S Charlotte.....

Competitive sports is good for the kids IMO also. Just like some of my heros of sports Tonya Harding you remember her great sport Ben Johnson,Mike Tyson, Latrell Sprewell, Terrell Owens and how could I forget that great coach from indiana Mr. Bobby Knight yes all true Competitive People. Yes I think competition is great for little Johnny oh before I forget 1 of the most compeittive great ballplayers of all time the great Ty Cobb true sportsman all of them.... Non of them were "traumatized as kids no coaches pushing any of them to greatness I am sure.

[swingaway]

Originally Posted by jlat

Huge fan of Indian Trail's and Porter Ridge's programs. Just finished with MARA and probably won't go back in the fall. Was not really happy with their programs their board or their coaches. Definitely avoid WCWAA. Way over competitive coaches with winning the number one thing, one sided talent drafts and extremely cliquish.

None of these association are any more competitive than the other, in my opinion. All have coaches that are great and coaches that do not need to be coaching, with most coaches somewhere in the middle. As long as they remain volunteer organizations, this will always be the case. For those interested in a less competitive environment, I recommend the YMCA or SOAR Sports.

They are all great associations with many of them competing against each other in basketball, challenge baseball, football, etc... Weddington is the largest association with great facilities and they play Little League Baseball. MARA is fairly large with great facilities and they play Cal Ripken Baseball, with Indian Trail and Porter Ridge being great programs also (both are Cal Ripken Baseball).

I am a big MARA fan with great friends at all of these association and love competing with them in various sports. You can't go wrong with any of them! Send me a PM if you want any information on MARA.

[winwinwin]

Originally Posted by swingaway

None of these association are any more competitive than the other, in my opinion. All have coaches that are great and coaches that do not need to be coaching, with most coaches somewhere in the middle. As long as they remain volunteer organizations, this will always be the case. For those interested in a less competitive environment, I recommend the YMCA or SOAR Sports.

They are all great associations with many of them competing against each other in basketball, challenge baseball, football, etc... Weddington is the largest association with great facilities and they play Little League Baseball. MARA is fairly large with great facilities and they play Cal Ripken Baseball, with Indian Trail and Porter Ridge being great programs also (both are Cal Ripken Baseball).

I am a big MARA fan with great friends at all of these association and love competing with them in various sports. You can't go wrong with any of them! Send me a PM if you want any information on MARA.

Well I think competitive play is great. Volunteer youth coaches have the power to turn children off to sports forever,or to make sports a life long passion. With the proper training,knowledge,and skills,a coach can improve the quality of his children's life immensely and help prepare them for the future. Yet coaches who operate from ignorance can do enormous harm with the same activity.Not every coach will do what's best for children in every case, but every competitive program can adopt policies requiring that every coach has at least been exposed to a good training program before he coaches a child. Not everyone that has played a sport is qualified to coach children. If any of those organizations can create this type of atmosphere,then everyone can become a winner,regardless of the won-lost record at the end of the season. What children will carry away with them from their sports EXPERIENCES will endure far longer than the outcome of any single contest. I don't think somewhere in the middle is quite good enough. There are programs out there for coaches and administrates.

[CouponJack]

Originally Posted by winwinwin

Competitive sports is good for the kids IMO also. Just like some of my heros of sports Tonya Harding you remember her great sport Ben Johnson,Mike Tyson, Latrell Sprewell, Terrell Owens and how could I forget that great coach from indiana Mr. Bobby Knight yes all true Competitive People. Yes I think competition is great for little Johnny oh before I forget 1 of the most compeittive great ballplayers of all time the great Ty Cobb true sportsman all of them.... Non of them were "traumatized as kids no coaches pushing any of them to greatness I am sure.

Oh please, your example makes absolutely no sense.

Your saying competitive sports drove Ty Cobb to be an extreme racist?

[CouponJack]

Originally Posted by swingaway

None of these association are any more competitive than the other, in my opinion. All have coaches that are great and coaches that do not need to be coaching, with most coaches somewhere in the middle. As long as they remain volunteer organizations, this will always be the case. For those interested in a less competitive environment, I recommend the YMCA or SOAR Sports.

They are all great associations with many of them competing against each other in basketball, challenge baseball, football, etc... Weddington is the largest association with great facilities and they play Little League Baseball. MARA is fairly large with great facilities and they play Cal Ripken Baseball, with Indian Trail and Porter Ridge being great programs also (both are Cal Ripken Baseball).

I am a big MARA fan with great friends at all of these association and love competing with them in various sports. You can't go wrong with any of them! Send me a PM if you want any information on MARA.

Great post. Agree 100% w/everything you said. There are very good coaches and there are lousy coaches, and many fall in the middle....


In Cal Ripken, coaches are now REQUIRED to take a coaching class and be certified on-line if they want to coach challenge baseball. Maybe some organizations like this are recognizing how difficult it is to be a coach and finally give them some tools to do the job properly....