LUYAA Fall 2004 NEWSLETTER
Published April 2004

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President’s Message

Spring is here!

With that let me reflect just a little. First, I want to thank everyone who stepped up to help with the spring registration. Together we conquered long lines of eager student athletes and their extremely supportive parents, we conquered snow and ice, and working together we even managed to find just enough field space to accommodate almost 2000 student athletes.

Hundreds of volunteer hours were invested in planning, registering, accounting for and preparing for spring sports. The number of student athletes registering for LUYAA Sports programs continues to grow rapidly and based on the growth of Frederick County we face some challenging times ahead.

The steps to success and the future of LUYAA are a top priority for the LUYAA Board of Directors. We have taken great strides to focus on the future.  As I mentioned in the December 2003 Newsletter, investing in our coaching staff was high on our list to insure the first line leadership were provided training opportunities to grow, learn and become even better mentors for our children. With that in mind the LUYAA BOD approved 20 coaches to attend the Red Cross Sports Safety Training program over the winter. Success! LUYAA was also accepted by the National Youth Sports Coaches Association and granted NYSCA Chapter Membership. Success! This will allow LUYAA to educate and sensitize volunteers to their roles and responsibilities when working with youth in sports. With that we will offer clinic’s for administrators, officials, parents and coaches. 

Fields and Facilities — with the growth of our community and youth programs we embarked on an aggressive search for additional fields and facilities. Several volunteers are working hard to locate, negotiate, plan, develop, and secure appropriate spaces for our athletes to practice and play. As you know this is not an easy task with all of the building going on in our area. I do want you to know that we will continue to work hard with the area schools, churches, parks and recreation, businesses, and the Frederick County Council to manage our needs. 

The LUYAA Board of Director’s, working with area businesses and college professors, are in the process of developing a Strategic Plan for the future of LUYAA. The Strategic Plan will assist LUYAA in preparing for the future to ensure we meet this needs of the community now, and 5 years from now. We will focus on capturing the history of LUYAA, future growth, field and facility needs, fundraising, marketing, corporate buying principles, education and protection.

Step one was to get a contract for Business Management Services. That contract was awarded and began on April 1, 2004 with Monocacy Management Services, Inc. This will provide the structure necessary to manage the current LUYAA program and our future needs.

Remember, even the smallest contribution of time will have a positive impact on the LUYAA family.  There is a place for everyone to assist. Contact your coach, commissioner, athletic director, or board of director member to find your place in our community.

I have found it very rewarding meeting and working with each of you; visiting fields and gymnasiums, meeting parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, coaches, and our children.

Together, we will continue to build a successful Linganore Urbana Youth Athletic Association.

Sincerely,
Todd O’Connor, President

LUYAA Refund Policy

• All refunds will be directed through the LUYAA webpage, www.luyaa.org. In the event that Internet access is unavailable, please contact the registrar.
• No refunds will be given after the completion of the second week of practice.
• A $10 Administrative fee will be imposed on all refunds. (*)
• Late fees and annual membership dues will not be refunded.

(*) Unless a child does not make a select or travel team and no intramural team is available in the same sport, or if the sport is full at the time of payment or cancelled for lack of enrollment.

LUYAA Late Registration Policy

• A registration is considered to be “late” if not turned in at the official LUYAA Registration.
• All late registrations will be subject to a $25 late fee. $10 of the late fee will be deposited into the LUYAA Land Fund.
• Directions for registering late can be found on the LUYAA webpage at www.luyaa.org. In the event that Internet access is unavailable, please contact the registrar.

Registration is not complete until full payment is received.

Board of Directors’ News

Upcoming Semi-Annual Election

The next election for the LUYAA Board of Directors will be held on June 3rd 2004. There will be four openings to be filled.

Candidates who run for election to the Board of Directors MUST submit the following at least 30 days prior to the date of the election:

• Name

• Address

• Occupational and Education History

• A brief statement why the candidate is interested in serving.

This information can be emailed to president@luyaa.org or mailed to:

            LUYAA

            PO Box 302

            New Market MD 21774

Per the change in the LUYAA by-laws; no nominations will be accepted from the floor. Any positions remaining unfilled, will be appointed by the president at a later date.

Chain of Command

Please try to resolve any problems through the chain of command. Please contact the athletic director before contacting members of the board. If there is a problem in following the above chain of command, the LUYAA Board of Directors has an open door policy; call any director or attend any board meeting.

1. Your Immediate Coach

2. Activity’s Commissioner-Coordinator

3. Athletic Director

4. LUYAA Board of Directors

Sport Commissioners

Approved By-Law Change

The following By-Law Change was approved by the membership at the December 4, 2003 semi-annual meeting.

4.05—Election

A. The members of the Board of Directors shall be elected by the general membership at the annual meeting by a majority vote. Each Director shall hold office until his/her term expires and until his/her successor shall have been duly chosen and qualified, or until he/she shall have resigned, or shall have been removed in the manner provided herein.

Candidates who run for election to the Board of Directors MUST submit the following at least 30 days prior to the date of the election:

Name
Address
Occupational and Education History
A brief statement why the candidate is interested in serving.

Candidates may also be asked to answer additional specific questions concerning issues which the Association is or may be facing. The questions, if any, will be published at least 60 days before the date of the semi-annual meeting.

1.   To qualify to run for election to the Board of Directors, a candidate must be a Member in Good Standing with the Association.

Treasurer’s Report

There have been a few changes lately which should greatly improve the administration of our ever-growing organization.  LUYAA has practically doubled in size over the past couple of years and now requires a full-time Business Manager position to have been created, in addition to me being appointed Treasurer.  I’ll be helping Barb Collins with anything she needs, while she continues to handle the HUGE undertaking of the financial duties.

Everyone should always take advantage of the website for refund requests, later registration, and other useful information.

As always, help is needed during registration.  If anyone wants to volunteer to help at the Spring Registration, please contact me at treasurer@luyaa.org.

As of 04/01/2004 the bank balances are as follows:

• Checking $34440.45.

• Reserve Fund $14898.42.

• Land Fund $56880.39.

• Land Fund CD $40793.26.

Thanks for the opportunity to help in our organization.

Julie Jarboe

Returned Checks

There is an amount of $5070.24  still to be collected on returned checks. If anyone still has outstanding fees due from prior registrations, please take care of them at the next registration.

LUYAA can no longer afford to take a passive response to these returned checks.  If payment is not received within the next month, the LUYAA Board of Directors will be looking into harsher actions.

Attention...LUYAA Parents

Our registrations are getting larger every season.  I wanted to thank everyone for their patience during the registration process.  I want to give some tips for getting through registration quickly.

1.  Go to our website (www.LUYAA.org) and get your email address on the webmaster’s master list.  Doing this will get you registration dates as soon as they are set up, updates, any changes or other information we want to get out to as many families as possible quickly.

2.  Check the website often.  It has about anything you would want to know on it, or at least a phone number to contact the person who would know.  Each sport has a link for info on that sport.  Please start there to see if your answer is on the site, if not, you can get the commissioner’s number and contact them.

3.  Read your newsletter.  It lists the upcoming registration dates and sports.  It may also have info on upcoming sports.  The newsletter is also available online.

4.  Come to the registrations.  There should be someone for each sport there and they often give out information for the upcoming sport and may have other things that need to be taken care of such as equipment sizing, purchasing, or paperwork to fill out.

5.  If school is canceled or closes early due to weather we are not able in the school for registration that night.  That is when you go to the website for updates on registration.  We will get it up as soon as possible.

6.  At registration, you must fill out a form for each child for each sport.  If you have a question about the sport, go to that table and talk to them before you get in the registration line.  Do not write out your check until you are told the amount you owe.  Please try to sign-up all your children at one time.  It makes it easier to apply the multiple sibling discounts.

7.  If you have an outstanding balance with LUYAA it needs to be cleared up before you can register for the upcoming season.

8.  The Annual Membership Fee of $15 is collected once a year.  It starts at the January registration.  If you do not register for a sport that season, you pay at your first registration of the year.  Your membership is good for January thru December of that year.  The fee is used for rental of the school for registration and BOD meetings, printing and distribution of newsletters, flyers and signs and other admin needs.  Also, $5 from each membership goes into the land fund.

9.  Late registrations are increasing.  Late registration starts as soon as the last registration is over.  There is a late fee of $25 per child/per sport.  Late registrations are done through submitting the late registration form on the website. Your child is not considered registered until the Registrar receives your payment.  This means you do not get anywhere to submit a registration form then take weeks to make the payment.  Nothing goes to the commissioner until the payment is received.  Waiting to make the payment may mean your child loses a spot in that sport.  This also means your payment should go directly to the Registrar.  Sending it to anyone else holds up the process. If you submit your registration form and do not receive a response from the Registrar within 2 days email her and ask about it.  Sometimes people enter the wrong email address but it does not bounce back. It is your responsibility to make sure your child gets registered.   If the sport is closed on the website, that means it is full and they are not taking any more registration.  . Late registrations are more difficult because of the extra communications needed between the registrar and commissioners. 

10. Refunds are also done through the website.  You submit the refund request form from the website.  This goes to the registrar who then passes it on to the commissioner for approval.  Once it is approved, it is sent to the bookkeeper for processing.  Please allow 2-3 weeks for processing.

Once again thanks for your patience.  If we work together we can make the registration process move along smoothly.

Sue Veres
LUYAA Registrar

Attention All LUYAA Members

For my senior project at Urbana High School, I will be collecting used sports equipment to be donated to LUYAA.  I will have a box set up near the UHS locker rooms.  I will also have a table at the next registration.  If you have any sports equipment sitting around, please bring it so that it can get some use!  Since there will probably be some equipment donated that is not of use to LUYAA, I will auction off  that equipment on eBay and donate the proceeds to the LUYAA Land Fund.  If you wish to bid on those items, you can  search for the keyword LUYAA on eBay after May 20th.  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.  My email address is imdabesty06@yahoo.com.

If you have any “LUYAA” equipment at home, this would be a good chance to turn it back in!  (No questions asked)

Thank you,
Becky Collins

Baseball

Spring Baseball is underway. We have nearly 500 players on 40 teams. Come out and enjoy watching a game on the green grass in the great springtime weather.

In our intramural program, we have a revamped Tee Ball with a renewed focus on basics. Our Rookie, or machine pitch, program has also experienced some rule changes to allow coaches to concentrate more on individual player skills. Our intramural program concentrates on learning and enjoying the game. Of course, players in the minor and major divisions want to know the score. They are more competitive. These divisions keep score, and have umpires.

We have continued our Pony League connection through the Mid-Maryland Baseball League. We have four teams in this league for players who are between 13 and 16 years old.

Our 10 year-old Sunday only travel team is playing in the Mid-Maryland Travel Association. MMTA has merged with the old Central Maryland Travel League.

Several of our teams got a start on the season when we rented the batting cages at Derek Hacopians Baseball Academy in Gaithersburg. The coaches and players who participated worked with the kids and we’ve seen some real improvement at the plate.

This spring we have been able to finally get some dirt onto the fields. Through the efforts of many parents and our field maintenance director Darren Rozich, LUYAA Baseball was able to improve the playing surface at New Market Middle School, New Market Elementary, Kemptown Elementary, and Kemptown Park. The Tee Ball field at Kemptown was cut out by a team led by coordinator John Anzalone and looks just great!

Equipment manager Rick West has a lot to be proud of. He and a group of parent volunteers cleaned out the barn. Old and broken equipment was disposed of. A number of new batting helmets and catchers outfits were put in place. Under a three year renewal plan, only modern equipment should be in the barn by Spring 2006.

LUYAA Baseball is working hard to improve communication this spring. You will probably notice that the baseball web site is frequently updated. Schedules were posted in March. Scores are updated almost daily by division coordinators. We continue to use the LUYAABaseball@yahoo.com email address to answer general questions about the program.

All-Star Saturday will be June 5, 2004 for the Rookie, Minor, and Major divisions. Minor and Major will have a season ending tournament beginning June 7, 2004. Tournament seeds are chosen by blind draw.

We will be holding LUYAA Day at the Frederick Keys on May 21, 2004. Tickets are just $4.00 and are available from any LUYAA Coach or Baseball Committee member. Players should arrive at Harry Grove Stadium and be lined up at the third base fence in order to participate in a pre-game parade. Join us on May 21st if you can.

The baseball program works because of volunteers. We currently have 16 people on the committee, but have room for a few more. We hope to add a fundraising manager, have a vacancy for a rules manager. We also will need a new umpire coordinator in the fall. Working with the committee is what makes LUYAA Baseball possible. Contact Commissioner Mark Reed 301-865-3457 or Assistant Commissioner Kevin Glassic 301-607-6438 to volunteer.

Even though spring is barely here, it’s time to register for Fall Baseball 2004. Fall is when baseball players move up to the next level. For purposes of registration, the age of a player on July 30, 2005 is used. Players may not play down into a lower age bracket.

Fall Baseball is entirely focused on skills and player development. Not league statistics are kept, no scores posted. Our LUYAA teams get a chance to play against teams from other area sports associations. It’s a fun season.

We hope you have a great summer and we’ll see you on the diamond in August.

 Mark Reed
Baseball Commissioner

Basketball

I would like to once again thank all of our intramural league coordinators for organizing the various age groups this season: Ron Smith, Harry Hall, Bruce Beveridge, A.J. Atmonavage, Bruce Baumgarten, Dave Wilkes, and Will Holmes.  Well done.  Special thanks go out to Alex Utt and Valerie Steven’s for the overall coordination of the Intramural program which continues to grow each year.  Traveling Coordinators, your leadership and efforts are sincerely appreciated as well: Pat Gwinn, Jim Kelley, and Jim Leuhman.

Congratulations to the Windsor Knolls J.V. Boys team for winning their League Championship.  I believe that it is the third championship in the last 4 years.  Well done guys.   Congratulations as well to the Boys J.V. from Oakdale and the Girls Varsity at New Market.  Both teams advanced to the finals of the league tournament and had very successful seasons.

Traveling Coaches needed.  There are several coaching positions that need to be filled.  Anyone interested in coaching a Traveling team can contact the following area coordinators:

-Windsor Knolls  Pat Gwinn    301 831-8489
-New Market      Jim Kelly      301 831-3029
-Oakdale             Rob Carpenter
-Commissioner   Dave Sowers 301 831-3824

Oakdale girls teams???  We are currently considering if there is enough interest to begin the girls teams at Oakdale.  Please let us know at this registration if your daughter attends Oakdale and would be interested in playing for the school team.  If you are not registering at this registration please be sure to call me (Dave Sowers) at the number above and let us know your interest.

 Girls Summer League Registration -  Registrations for girls currently in 5th thru 8th grade are being excepted at this registration.  There is a 5th and 6th grade league and a 7th and 8th grade league.  All games are played at Urbana High School.  Game days and times will be available at registration. 

 Summer Camp Info:  We will have all the local high school camp brochures available at the registration tables.  High School Contacts:

-Linganore                    Coach McGaha     240 236-7914

-Urbana     Coach Chueng                          301 537-2510

-St. John’s                     Coach Kelley        301 662-4210

Have a great summer and keep the ball bouncing!

Dave’s Sowers
Basketball Commissioner

Cheerleading

 Whew - it is hard to believe another season has passed already!  Thanks to the coaches and junior coaches for their time and efforts during basketball cheerleading.  Thanks also to the cheerleaders and their parents for making LUYAA cheerleading a priority throughout the season.

With the completion of the basketball season, the cheerleading program and LUYAA offer special thanks to Pam Ring.  Pam continued to build upon an already strong LUYAA cheer program.  We thank her for her efforts and wish her luck as her children move on to new programs and sports!

As we look forward to fall, I anticipate a great season for the Hawk and Lancer cheerleaders.  This year, we will have tryouts for those girls entering grades 6-8 for Junior Varsity and Varsity squads.  Girls entering grades 4 and 5 will participate in an evaluation process (grade 3 will not participate in the evaluations).  Please see the cheer page @ LUYAA.org for details.

Our goal is to have squads with a minimum of 12 and maximum of 25 cheerleaders per squad.  By creating this min/max, we allow for greater sideline presence and safe execution of stunting. 

Volunteers – I have a number of parents who have volunteered to coach, assistant coach, team mom, etc.  Thanks to each of you.  Coaches will be assigned after tryouts/evaluations.  Other ‘assignments’ will be discussed as the need arises.  Items that you may want to specify your interest in include:  fundraiser, banquet, uniform, and apparel coordinator, etc.    A confirmation sheet will be at the tryouts and the fall signup table.

Please mark the LUYAA cheer page as your ‘favorite’.  We will continue to use the site to post important info on meetings, practices, uniform requirements, etc.  This will be the case for all cheerleading programs. 

One last reminder – Mini Pony and Competition Squad signups are May 1, 4 and 8.  Girls entering 1st and 2nd grade may sign-up for the Mini Pony squad.  There will be NO evaluation process for Mini-Pony level, but you must sign up to reserve a space.  The competition squad is a competitive travel squad.  Girls must be on the 2004 fall football squad to be considered for this squad.

Here’s to a great fall season!

Debbie Schneider
Cheerleading Commissioner 

Football

I would like to introduce myself to those of you out there I have not yet had the opportunity to meet.  My name is Kim Narvesen and I am the Football Commissioner for LUYAA.  I have been involved in LUYAA Football since my oldest son started playing 5 years ago and I have helped out in many different aspects of the football program.  I like to take an active role in the sports that my kids choose to play and by far football is their favorite as well as mine.  I would like to personally thank Roger and Kathryn Rich for all that they have done for LUYAA football over the years.  They have been an integral part of this growing organization and I am looking forward to the challenge of continuing to keep LUYAA one of the best football programs around.  I plan on working hard to give the kids the best experience they can have in playing the game of football.

Helping me to make this happen are the two Area Directors that work with me.  John Marciniak is the Area Director for the Linganore side and Bill Potterton is the Area Director for the Urbana side of football.    These are the guys that are out there working on the fields, organizing and instructing the coaches and ensuring that everything is done and ready for us come August.  Also working with us is Danner Hawkins, he is the new Athletic Director for the fall sports and has been very involved with the football program this year.  

We have already begun planning a golf fundraiser to be held on June 4th at Rattlewood Country Club in Mount Airy.  There is going to be a silent auction which includes some sports items that I’m sure you’ll want to see and there will be many door prizes to be given away throughout the day.  Please come out and support our football program and enjoy a game of golf with many of your friends from the football field.  There is a registration  form available in this newsletter.

If you would like to become a team player off the field we have many volunteer positions available.  Specifically we need help with concessions, fundraising, equipment distribution and there are still a few coaching positions available.  If you would like to help out in any way in any area, please contact me, Bill or John as soon as possible.  Our contact information can be found on the website at www.luyaa.org.  Also, anyone who has not yet handed in their equipment from last year will not be able to register for football this year unless you contact Rich Long at 240-367-6801.

And last but not least I’d like to recognize our 2003 teams for their outstanding accomplishments.  First I’d like to say congratulations to the Urbana Hawks 2003 CCFL Pony “C” Division Super Bowl Champs!  And I’d also like to acknowledge the following teams who made it to the Super Bowl:  the Urbana Hawks CCFL Varsity “A” Division team, the Urbana Hawks Junior Varsity “B” Division team and the Urbana Hawks I70 12 & Under team.  Also on the Linganore side congratulations to the Linganore CCFL Pony “C” Division team and the Linganore I70 10 & under team who represented us in the playoffs this year.  We are very proud of all our football teams!  You’ve done an amazing job representing LUYAA football and together we can make this year another successful season for all our kids.

Kim Narvesen
Football Commissioner

 Lacrosse

Again this fall, LUYAA will be offering Fall Lacrosse Clinics for our youth in the following categories:

·      Boys Novice Clinic

·      Boys Experienced Clinic

·      Girls Novice Clinic

·      Girls Experienced Clinic

The Novice Clinics will be held on two week nights at Green Valley Elementary School. These clinics provide its participants an opportunity to learn the basic skills of throwing, catching, scooping, and shooting, and are designed primarily for those youngsters who have either never played Lacrosse or have only limited game playing experience.

The Experienced Clinics will be held on the Weekend. These clinic provides participants the opportunity to enhance the basic stick skills they used during the Spring season practices and games, and are designed for those youngsters who have had one or more regular Spring seasons of game playing experience.

We hope to see many new Lacrosse players as well as many of our current youth Lacrosse players at our fall registration.  Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!

Laurie M. Russell  (301) 865-0212
Lacrosse Commissioner

Mark S. Hoffman (301) 865-2969
Linganore Lacrosse Coordinator

Robin Abel (301) 865-5702
Urbana Lacrosse Coordinator

Poms

The fall pom program is about to get under way!  Believe it or not - registration for Fall Lancer and Urbana poms will be during the May registration dates.  Any girl entering 1st grade through 8th grade is welcome to come and be a part of our pom squads.  If your daughter loves to dance, help contribute to routines, meet alot of new friends, work as a team, support the football teams, the pom squad is the place for her.  There are no try-outs  all girls are welcome.  We are also looking for a few good coaches and junior coaches.  If you have previously been a pom, and are in 9th through 12th grade - we would love to have you as a junior coach.  Stop by our registration table and sign up.  If you have any questions, you can stop by the pom registration table and ask.  We are looking forward to another successful pom season and hope you would like to be a part of it!

Suzanne Patton
Pom Commissioner

Soccer

It is now finally time for the Spring season to begin.  I’d like to give everyone a feeling for the work that went into getting us to this point.  We begin with preparation for registration (it has already begun for the Fall, so be prepared) – the paperwork, scheduling and copying begins for John Anzalone (4v4 program), Paul McArthur (Instructional program) and Paul Riley (Competitive program).  We have many coaches help us take paperwork, answer questions and help guess uniform sizes during the three days of registration (snow permitting).  We also work hard to “recruit” additional coaches so that all of the kids who want to play soccer can. This season, we signed up almost 700 young boys and girls, requiring at least 57 coaches, spread across the different parts of the soccer program.

With all of these kids, we need soccer balls, goals, nets, cones, bags, goalie gloves, etc. and that job has been handled for several years now by Kim Carioto-Krugle, who gives up most of her basement during the off-season to collect, inventory and then redistribute all of the equipment.  We also need to order uniforms for the players and then sort and distribute it once it comes in (thanks JoAn Jackson – and her family for giving up their family room).

The next step is to create teams, trying our best to honor requests from parents and coaches.  We work to identify the fields we can use for practice, and as all of the LUYAA programs grow, this becomes increasingly difficult.  Thanks to help from Danner Hawkins, Mark Reed, Todd O’Connor and others, we were able to secure additional fields and we worked closely with the baseball and lacrosse folks to make the optimum use of the fields we’ve got to use.

Next, we have to measure and line the fields (as well as set up goals and buy sand bags to anchor them) – thanks here to our three coordinators again – Paul R, Paul M, and John A, as well as Bob LoCicero, Kevin Brookes, John Gardner, David Farnsworth and Randy Givens.  And of course, pictures and trophies – thanks to Robin Stewart , Kristin Airey and Kim Ferris – for helping with this challenging task.

Now we need your help.  Please continue to be very positive in your encouragement of the players (of both teams), coaches and officials.  Please help us keep all dogs, tobacco and alcohol off of the fields.  And please make sure all of the kids in LUYAA sports have fun!

Dave Goldstein
Soccer Commissioner

Softball

 Welcome! The spring 2004 softball season has started, so lets all have fun and play some ball! The LUYAA girls softball program is the largest in Frederick County. We offer girls from the ages of 6 to 14 the chance to play softball. There are two different programs, intramural for age 6 through 14 and U14 travel. The league plays in accordance with the ASA and FCGSL (Frederick county girls softball league) rules.

We are offering the following programs for the 2004 softball Season:

The 8 & under coach pitch instructional league- this is an intramural program for 6 to 8 year old girls. The program promotes sportsmanship and provides instructions in the basic fundamentals of softball. All 8 & under practices and games are conducted at Green Valley Elementary.

The 11 & under instructional league- this is an intramural program for 9 to 11 year old girls. This is an entry-level program for child pitching emphasizing sportsmanship and provides instructions in the basic fundamentals of softball. All practices and games are conducted at Windsor Knolls Middle School. The U11 league conducts a round robin team tournament at the end of the season.

The 14 & under intramural league- this is an intramural program for 11-13 year old girls. This advanced league provides for child pitched games that emphasizes sportsmanship and the development of advanced game skills that are required for advancement to the high school level. All practices and games are conducted at Windsor Knolls Middle School. The U14 league conducts a round robin team tournament at the end of the season.

The U14 travel team is the LUYAA representative in the FCGSL (Frederick County Girls Softball League) & CC Rec. league. The travel team programs

participates in games throughout Frederick County during the regular season but may travel further for tournaments. Some of the players may be selected to play in NSA, ASA, or Babe Ruth tournaments. We are excited to announce that next year in addition to our U14-travel team we will be offering for the first time a U10 and U12 - LUYAA representative travel teams in the FCGSL.

We are glad to see that students from the local community college who grew up in LUYAA organization have come back to coach teams and provide this valuable service to the community. Currently there are four Urbana High School and two Linganore High School students teaching/coaching in the U11 intramural league, gaining valuable leadership skills.

A special “THANK YOU” goes out to Rick Jeffery who provided an in depth clinic into the fundamentals of fast pitch softball pitching. Rick’s first priority is to train the coaches and then assist the coaches in training the pitchers. Rick’s 18 years of coaching experience is an invaluable asset to the LUYAA girls softball community and his volunteerism is greatly appreciated. 

The LUYAA Girls Softball organization through fundraisers from previous years has donated over 75 tons of field mix to the Frederick County School System; the field mix has been a valuable addition to the Windsor Knolls Softball fields. A special “THANK YOU” goes out to the local businesses that come back year after year to support and sponsor our teams.

Debbie Dersin
Softball Commissioner

Wrestling

Another successful season has come to a close for the LUYAA Wrestling program.  The team finished 6th out of 18 teams in the Mason Dixon League Championships.  We had 12 place winners in the championships, four 1st place winners, Alex Wolfe, Mason Mignogna, Peter Tatanish and Lucas Pangburn, three 2nd place winners; Alex McCaslin, Josh Kraus and Trey Curry, one 3rd  place winner, Nick Conklin and four 4th place finishers; Jonathan Baxley, Nick Fotos-Lawton, Casey Crowell, and Kyler Leiter.  Congratulations to all of these wrestlers for a great season.  A special congratulations goes out to all of the wrestlers for their commitment and hard work throughout the season.  You are all WINNERS in the eyes of the coaches and parents.

A special thanks goes out to all the volunteers and assistant coaches who helped move mats, mop mats, run concession, man the scoring tables during matches, organize fund raisers, coach matches, help with practices, etc., etc., etc.  Without the commitment of these volunteers, the wrestling program would simply not exist.  You are all great and wonderful people.  THANK YOU!

Our last fund raiser for the season will be a Longaberger Basket Bingo at the New Market Fire Hall on Sunday, April 18th, from 2:00 to approximately 6:00 PM.  Anyone who is interested in tickets for the event can contact Gwen Grant at 301-865-5989.

Check out the LUYAA Wrestling web page through the LUYAA home page for pictures and details about the season and/or leave a message on the Wrestling Hotline

 (866) 216-1448 if you have any questions.

Until next year,

Ken Wolfe
Wrestling Commissioner