NCAA’s YES Clinic Teaches More
Than Basketball Skills

On Saturday, April 3^rd the Alario Center will host the NCAA’s Youth Education through Sports (YES) Clinic.  The YES Program has reached an unprecedented level of popularity.  Each year, YES Clinics, held at selected NCAA championships serve nearly 10,000 youth ages 10 to 18 who engage in fun and challenging activities.  This year’s Women’s Final Four will be no exception.

The YES Clinics are available to students, free of charge, and offer the participants sessions in sports-skills, life skills and conditioning sessions conducted by top collegiate coaches and student-athletes.  Parents have the opportunity to discuss with clinic staff issues regarding youth sports such as nutrition, sportsmanship, college recruiting, compliance and eligibility and injury prevention.  Parents and youth coaches are encouraged to attend.

Four sites around New Orleans (Tulane University, Dillard University, Lower Algiers Community Center and the Alario Center all in conjunction with the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation) will host clinics simultaneously on April 3^rd giving hundreds of youths the opportunity to learn how to excel both on the court and off.  WDSU’s weekend sports anchor Fletcher Mackel will be the master of ceremonies for the morning’s activities.  Joining Mackel will be NCAA coaches and student-athletes, as well as representatives from the New Orleans Hornets, West Jefferson Medical Center, Jefferson Parish Public Schools, the State of Louisiana Office of Student Financial Aid-TOPS Program, and more.  Volunteers from the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation & crew members from the USS San Antonio, (an Amphibious Transport Dock currently under construction in the nearby Northrop Grumman) will help make sure everything runs smoothly.

“The YES Clinics are a wonderful experience for the community.  It is a way to become directly involved with the Final Four and to visit with top coaches from around the country,” states Sharon Cessna, NCAA’s Associate Director for Championships,  “The participants are given an opportunity to interact with collegiate student-athletes and to develop basketball and life skills through working with the coaches and other professionals.  The parents are not forgotten; they too have an opportunity to discuss issues relevant to young student-athletes, the recruiting process and a healthy lifestyle.”

The YES program began during the 1985-86 season with clinics at the Women's Final Four and the NCAA track and field championships. Clinics are slated annually at championship sites that include football, softball, basketball, soccer, baseball, lacrosse, track and field, volleyball and field hockey. Several clinics offer participants the chance to also attend the NCAA championship at the clinic site at no cost to the participants. 

YES Clinics succeed because of teamwork. Collegiate coaches and student-athletes from around the country are brought in to help participants learn and practice sports and mental skills development. In addition, local high school/club coaches and other individuals from the community assist in reinforcing YES objectives and the overall operation of the clinic.

You can learn more about the YES Program at www.yesclinics.org or for more information about the New Orleans Women’s Final Four Clinics or to sign up visit http://www.yesclinics.org/clinic_finalfourwomen.cfm (all applications to join the Clinic must be postmarked by March 29^th!).  For more information on the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, host of the 2004 Women’s Final Four, visit them online at www.gnosports.com. 

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