CYC Sports

Here is a great offer for CYC families and friends.  10 e-books for only $25.  I'm not that great at math, but that comes to somewhere around $2.50 per book.  And if you are a sports fan, that is a real deal, or in baseball terms, a real steal.  Many of these books are about St. Louis sports: For Cardinal Fans Only, Remembering Jack Buck, Kurt Warner and the last shall be first, I Remember Harry Caray and others.  Aren't most of us Notre Dame fans?  This selection includes a For Notre Dame Fans Only.

This would be a great gift for Fathers Day, or as a graduation present, for birthdays, or a great gift EVERYDAY!  Use your e-readers, I-Pod, I-Pads, MP# players.  If you are not an e-book reader, you can get the audio version.  Or you could send a gift card to an e-reader.  

Plus your parish Athletic Association will receive $4 for every e-book offer sold!  Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbors, heck tell your enemies (if you have any) so they can get in on the steal too.  All you have to do is type in http://www.gostealthisbook.com/cyc.      

Sports Authority is here to help you come up with a great gift for mom, and if you use print out and bring in the coupon below, you can get 20% off at Sports Authority.  Time is running short, time for you to run to your nearest Sports Authority.

Click Here for Mother's Day Coupon - 20% OFF

We want to thank all those that took time to notice Random Acts of Sportsmanship (RAS) and then take the time to send us an e-mail explaining what they saw.  Those emails came from the St. Louis Sportsmanship Brigade (Congratulations to the St. Louis Sports Commission on being voted the Sports Commission of the Year!), officials, coaches and one fan!  Here is a list of the latest RAS recipients:

- The Sportsmanship Brigade witnessed the 8th grade boys closed playoff game between Assumption-O'Fallon and Sacred Heart-Florissant at the Danis Field House on April 12th.  As usual, Sacred Heart had a large, loud following.  Assumption only dressed five players.  Those five showed remarkable poise and maturity as they not only battled a tough opponent, but a partisan crowd.  The Assumption players helped opposing players up after tough plays.  One even patted a Sacred Heart player on the back to comfort him after a tough call.  Congrats to these RAS Five!

- In another 8th grade boys closed game, St. Ann's Naton Smith was recognized for his spirit and sportsmanship.  After a St. Mark third period comeback turned a 12 point deficit into a tight contest, Naton rallied his team as much with his encouraging words as his play.  His spirit was contageous, and his team held on to win the game and advance to the championship.

- The brigade attended the greatest 10-9 game ever played.  At least that is what Brigade commander, Solomon Alexander said after they watched the 5th grade girls from St. Peter defeat the girls from St. Joseph 10-9.  It was an exiting game all the way to the final buzzer.  Although the brigade considered every player involved to be good sports, they thought St. Peter's coach, Dan Stretch was outstanding in how he treated the girls, his team and the opponents and the officials.  Thanks for being a great example Dan!

- Officials Casey and Pete Fox were recognized as RAS winners for their work on Sunday, April 7th as they officiated two 5th grade girls closed games at St. Cletus.  They explained their calls and helped comfort the girls as they played in the Archdiocesan semifinals.

-  Tyra Brown, plays on the Our Lady of Guadalupe 8th grade Girls open team.  A fan nominated her for her good sportsmanship shown to her opponents.  In a first round game, after a hard collision, she immediately went over to her opponent and helped her up and asked if she was OK.  Way to go Tyra!

-  In a tight, hard fought first round Cadet Boys closed playoff game between Incarnate Word and Our Lady of Festus, we witness a wonderful sight at the end of the game.  Every player and coach on BOTH teams went up to both officials and thanked them for officiating their game!  How great is that!  Both teams deserve to the RAS award!

-  Although Elisah Johnson's 8th grade closed St. Ann team dropped the championship game to Assumption, Elisah was constantly encouraging his teammates and was a catalyst in a big 4th quarter comback that fell just a few points short.  His sportsmanship stood out to those watching. 

-   In what might have been the most exciting championship game of the Archdiocesan playoffs, 7th grade boys open, St. Cletus defeated Our Lady of Pillar.  Both have outstanding teams and each team had a RAS receipient.  Coach Mark Norwine of St. Cletus was recognized for his handling of his players in an extremely loud and excited atmosphere.  Coach Mark kept his players calm and focused when it would have been easy to get caught up in all the noise and excitement.  Even more impressive was #15, Austin Hannah of Our Lady of Pillar.  Late in overtime, with the score tied, Austin was called for a charge and knocked a St. Cletus player to the floor.  Instead of being upset with the official or himself, instead of pouting or ranting, or listening to the crowd that was screaming, he turned around and helped the St. Cletus player to his feet and told him "good play".  Now that is great sportsmanship under intense conditions.  That is something for Austin, his coach and parents to be proud of.  It is also a great example for all of us in the CYC! 

When you "catch" a CYC player, coach, official or fan performing a Random Act of Sportsmanship, please send an email to buzzswanston@archstl.org explaining the situation and act.  Or you can call 353-8911 ext. 13 and describe it.  We want to recognize all those folks in our program, because Good Sportsmanship makes Great Sports! 

In the world of club volleyball, most teams end the tournament with a loss, and then after the loss they have to officiate the next match.  Only the two teams that play in the final match, the championship match, leave after playing, instead of after officiating.  Below is a letter written by the Ultimate Gold 16s coach to the St. Louis CYC Volleyball Club, praising CYC coach Matt Ryan and his 16s team.

"I just wanted to say how impressed I was with your 16 Green team today!  We had played them the first day of the MEQ and again today for our last match of the tournament.  When they got done beating us I was blown away that they offered to ref the match that was our responsibility.  They said they had to stay to play later anyway so it was no problem.  Your coach and team should be complimented for thinking of others instead of themselves.  I will definitely have my team ref a match in the future and tell the team it was because of your  kindness.  I hope they all had a safe trip home.  Thank you again."

 The MEQ is the MidEast Qualifier that was played in Indianapolis this past weekend.  The day this happened was Sunday, March 24th, the day the snowstorm hit Missouri and Illinois.  The Ultimate Gold team is from Chicago.  So both teams drove home through the snowstorm.  By leaving a little earlier, the Ultimate team may have avoided the worst part of the storm.  Congratulations to Matt Ryan and his whole team for representing the CYC in such a positive light.  As such we are awarding them with CYC's Random Acts of Sportsmanship award.  Even better, it looks like you have encouraged the Ultimate team to Pay it Forward!