Welcome to St. Francis Xavier CYO Athletics. We are pleased that you have chosen CYO Athletics as your child’s athletic program. CYO Athletics provides an exceptional opportunity for your child to learn new skills, have fun, be with their friends and be physically active. Athletics is part of our daily lives – striving to be the best we can be requires each child to learn and compete at their own pace.
The competitive spirit is learned, starting with those early, character-shaping years. Competition is within the human spirit, waiting to be nurtured and developed positively for life’s lessons. CYO’s mandatory participation rules assure that every child will have an opportunity to participate in every game.
Each year thousands of young people from across the counties of the Diocese of Cleveland participate in the many athletic programs offered through the Youth & Young Adult Ministry and CYO Office. In the Catholic Youth Organization, the athletic competition gives each participant an opportunity to grow in character, ability and community while honoring oneself, as well as one’s family, teammates, officials and church. The CYO in Northeast Ohio is part of Catholic Charities Diocese of Cleveland. As such, the program promotes the values of Dignity of Person, Hope, Service and Justice to all those whom we come in contact with each day.
To sustain this focus, The young person, not the athletic activity, is the primary focus of CYO athletics. With this in mind CYO endeavors to help young people be more Christ-like in the way they live. Each participant, parent, coach, official and volunteer need to work together to bring our Gospel vision and values to life in every aspect of CYO programs.
Competing hard while being Christ-like in all that you say and do is our goal at CYO! Not every youth sports program aims to achieve this goal. In this way, CYO is determined to be different. All of us at the Diocese of Cleveland CYO hope that you enjoy your participation in our programs and that we all display and live our mission each day to help make CYO be the best that it can be.
ROOTS calls for all those involved in CYO to respect the Rules-Opponents-Officials-Teammates-Self as they participate in youth sports. Are you honoring our ROOTS?
If you see people disrespecting any of those in ROOTS, then you need address that behavior immediately and/or contact your pastoral designee, coach or CYO through the incident or contact button on the CYO website.
CYO wants to reverse the trends of negative behavior in youth sports, and it can only be done when we are all on board to monitor each other’s conduct toward fulfilling this goal. With all of our efforts we will be the “beacons of light, transforming our lives, our neighborhoods and our world”.
When a coach or team shows respect for those involved and the game itself, promoting positive sportsmanship comes naturally. If you see that positive behavior remember to nominate them for the CYO Sportsmanship award.
The CYO culture must be at the fore front of all our actions. We must continue to build and honor a culture that fulfills our mission and values.
Please visit the Diocese of Cleveland CYO website for additional information and resources for parents.