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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-07-10; City Council; 16267; Request to give Presentation - Joy of SportsAB# /6!&7 MTG. 7/10/01 TITLE: Request to Give Presentation on the Joy of Sports Foundation DEPT. HD. CITY ATTY. DEPT. CM CITY MGR CITY OF CARLSBAD -AGENDA BILL RECOMMENDED ACTION: Receive presentation from Andrew Oser, Founder/President of the Joy of Sports Foundation. ITEM EXPLANATION: The City Council provides an opportunity for citizens and organizations to have an item placed on a City Council Agenda by submitting a letter to the City Manager. Attached is a letter (Exhibit 1) from the Joy of Sports Foundation requesting to provide an informational update on their program and the services they are offering the community. FISCAL IMPACT: None EXHIBITS: 1. Letter to Ray Patchett from Kathryn Smith, Regional Coordinator for the Joy of Sports Foundation, dated June 14, 2001. _ I, .: ; ,‘i ._ ., EXHIBIT 1 > . . .: ,x ./ “._ ; 11 4 : . I ’ _A , 800 Grand Avenue, Suite B5 Carlsbad, CA 92008 PH: 760-730-7861 FAX: 760-434-8195 kathrvns(i;i>,iovofs0orts.org www.joyofsports.org June 14,200l Ray Patchett City Manager Carlsbad City Council 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive Carlsbad, CA 92008 Dear Mr. Patchett, I would like to request that Andrew Oser, Founder/President of the Joy of Sports Foundation, be put on the agenda to speak at the Carlsbad City Council. The mission of the Joy of Sports Foundation is to use sports and physical activities to help children learn life skills and develop themselves in body, mind, and spirit. Over the past 12 years, the Joy of Sports Foundation has served more than 15,000 at-risk children. Our programs have been recognized as models by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the United States Tennis Association, and many other organizations. In appreciation of our accomplishments, the White House honored Joy of Sports as a Point of Light. Last month, we opened an office in Carlsbad, and are currently serving children at the Carlsbad Laurel Tree Head Start with our Star Power for Preschoolers program, and will be providing our Tennis Plus program at the Carlsbad Boys and Girls Club summer camp in July. We would like to introduce the Joy of Sports Foundation and its programs to the Carlsbad City Council, and appreciate your consideration in putting Andrew Oser on your agenda. ~~~*~t~~.&-i?L? Kathryn Smith Regional Coordinator 4 The San Diego Union-Tribune I NORTH COAST 1 Thursday, June 14,200l TOU~~~OCUS Carllsbad JOY OFSPORTS Programs teach kids about athletics, relaxation, self&teem By Robbin O’Neal COMMUNITY NEWS WRITER C ARLSBAD - Preschoolers roaring like lions, titating cats stretching and meowing, pretending to inflate like balloons. Just child’s play, right? Wrong. While they are engaged in these yoga-inspired physical activities and more than 60 others, these children are also learning the five basic life skills of relaxation, self-esteem, imagination, cooperation and con- centration. The youngsters, ages 3 to 5, are participants in the Star Power pro- gram, which is sponsored by the Carlsbad-based Joy of Sports Foun- dation. “Our goal is to use physical activi- ties and sports to help children de- velop themselves,” said the organi- zation’s founder, Andrew Oser. “Sports is about more than just win- ning, and if we place too much em- phasis on winning, we create stress for the kids. We want to teach them to deal with stress by learning how to relax.” Oser said one of the most popular games for the young “Stars” is the Parachute Game. ‘They stand holding a circle of brightly colored 10 or 12-foot (diam- eter) fabric,” he said. ‘The object is to see how high in the air they can tie a soft foam ball go. They quick- ly see the benefits of cooperation be- cause unless they all work together, the ball doesn’t go very high.” Star Power iS just one of the pro- grams Oser developed for his foun- elation. The Tennis Plus program uses’ tennis to teach the same five life skills to older children. The foun- dation will provide the tennis in- struction this summer in partner- ship with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad. Oser also hopes to im- plement a soccer program in North County within the next year. Forty children at the Neighbor- hood House Association Head Start by the Sea in Encinitas have partici- pated in Star Power activities since &)& ._; Alfred0 Smith of the Joy of Sports Foundation worked with participants in the Carlsbad Star Power program as they pretended to be jungle animals. Dun Tmun/ Union-Tri&ze “We feel the life skills Star Power stresses are so important, and they can easily translate into improving the children’s home life,” said Tracey Astorga, Head Start center director. “Our parents are also ex- cited about learning new ways to help their kids grow.” Head Start plans to incorporate the program’s philosophy into its ongoing parent support programs, Astorga said. She added that at this particular Head Start, because most of its students speak only Spanish, everything is taught in English and followed by a Spanish translation. Oser said one of the foundation’s goals is to train teachers and then turn the program over to them so they can incorporate it into their regular classroom routiries. I The Joy of Sports Foundation came about as a side benefit of Os- er’s earlier career as a professional tennis instructor and writer. “I found that the more I taught and played tennis, the more I fo- cused on what I now call ‘life skills,“’ Oser said. ‘When those five things were incorporated into ten- nis, my students’ play improved. They were learning to focus on more than just technique. I didn’t realize it until both adults and kids came to me saying that the things I was talking about on the court were helping them at work and school. “I wanted to make a broader im- pact’ than I was making. When I was teaching private lessons, I was working with a pretty limited popu- lation, middle- and upper-middle- class people. I wanted to bring the power of sports and the lessons it can teach to lots of kids, especially those from low-income back- Oser, 47,‘ftitinded the Joy of ’ ’ Sports Foundation in 1990 while living in Washington, D.C. The foundation was selected as a Daily Point of Light in June 2000 by for- mer President Bush, and has beer recognized by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. In 2000, Oser moved to San Diego County, where he had lived in the 1980s. “My plan was always to branch out the programs throughout the country. Kids are entirely too stressed out, and I want our pro- grams to help them relax and be- come the best people they can be,’ he said. For more information about the Joy of Sports Foundation, call (760 730-7861.