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Community Partners

YTA values the many partners and collaborations that help accomplish our mission each year.  One such partnership exists with a very vibrant non-profit called Team-up For Youth.  
Not only has Team-up For Youth provided funds to develop YTA’s scholar athlete programs at John McLaren Park in San Francisco, but they have hosted a variety of exceptional coaches’ workshops attended by many YTA instructors.  These workshops feature important themes such as how to coach girls, creating powerful programs and how to communicate with children to be most effective.  One of the greatest tools ever crafted for youth development organizations that promote sports is the Team-up For Youth sponsored “Learning to Play and Playing to Learn” report written by Ann Rosewater and published in February 2009. Click HERE for report.

Team-up For Youth has most recently worked with YTA on a self-assessment of our organization.  They have provided free webinars and tools on how to grade ourselves in regards to program design, skilled and caring coaches, equity and inclusion and youth development including education and health outcomes.  Several YTA staff and volunteers will be attending the upcoming summit, The Game Plan for Girls’ Sports Igniting a Practice of Change, May 20-21 in San Francisco hosted by Team-up For Youth and Athletes for Hope. 

Team-up For Youth has helped YTA thrive in very difficult and demanding times.  We look forward to continuing to our partnership in the future as we both promote excellent sports programs to help youth have fun, be healthy and learn life lessons.

Hillcrest Falls in Love with Tennis!

For six weeks, Hillcrest Elementary School in San Francisco’s Portola neighborhood received an extra curriculum in their after school EXCEL program, tennis! On Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 - 12 students from various grades, eager to pick up a racquet and a tennis ball, rushed to the yard.

The six week program, lead by YTA instructor John Savoy, started a little damp. Heavy rain caused the first day of tennis to be move into a hallway. Ten kids, with ten racquets and ten tennis balls is a recipe for chaos. However, the beautiful sunny weather that followed allowed the students an open space and a net to play. Throughout the six weeks, all the students were taught basic foot work and basic strokes while playing fun and fast pace games. By the end of the six weeks, many students were able to rally over the net, but more importantly, the students had fun and gained confidence in their tennis skills.

This is a wonderful opportunity to expose students to a sport they otherwise would not have access to, known about, or even tried. Hillcrest Elementary School will promote the YTA tennis, academic assistance and life skills activities opportunities held at nearby John McLaren Park to their students and plans are being made now for more YTA activities to be held at the school in 2010.

Harper For Kids Presents COACH WOODEN FOR KIDS
Inch and Miles Sportsmanship Festival

Harper for Kids (HFK), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was formed in 2008. Its purpose is to provide children with educational and enrichment programs to cultivate, inspire and develop leadership skills and promote healthy character development. YTA will be partnering with HFK and its COACH WOODEN FOR KIDS© Inch and Miles Sportsmanship Tennis Festival program in a school assembly pilot project for children ages 7-11 years old. The Inch and Miles Sportsmanship Tennis Festival life skills program was developed by Peanut Louie Harper, Steve Jamison (a best-selling author and America’s preeminent authority on the leadership philosophy of UCLA’s legendary Coach John Wooden: