Greetings Members & Friends of CBAA- 

I hope you had an enjoyable summer and that your families are settling into the new school year. All of the CBAA programs are vibrant, active and growing rapidly since our last report to you; here are just a few of the activities:

CBAA Basketball - Summer league completed its season in August with an increase to 95 teams this summer - helped by our second season of lighted courts. The CBAA summer league has become the premier league for summer ball in the area. Open gyms have started with travel team tryouts and intramural player evaluation coming up in preparation for the 2012-2013 season. (Please see below for changes to the current schedule- or on the Basketball Website)

CBAA Lightning Lacrosse - Lightning lacrosse had a very successful spring season with two boys' teams finishing on top of their SEPYLA divisions. Lax's Sunday fall ball continues to grow increasing to 300 Lightning male and female players who hone their skills on Sunday afternoons during the LAX off-season.

TOPSoccer - This great program lead by former CBAA board member Matt McGahran starts its 4th year and provides opportunity for our local special needs youth to play soccer. 

CBAA Soccer - We are nine months into our reintegration of the travel and intramural programs which provides soccer to over 1600 players. The integration has streamlined management and both programs are sharing resources not competing for them. We continue our U7/U8 Academy program for our younger players who want a little more soccer. Congratulations to our U12G BU Waves who won the NCS Pennsylvania Cup champions this spring and other BU teams who provided our strongest showing in state competition since 2010.

Major Events - CBAA Basketball hosted Coaches Against Cancer; Buckingham United hosted its March into Cups tournament in near perfect conditions in March; and Lightning Lacrosse hosted its successful and regionally recognized Irish Skirmish tournament in April.

Member Education, Training and Benefits - CBAA hosted a Concussion Informational Session this past Thursday, September 27 at 7 PM at Holicong Middle School. It was a very informative seminar with incredible experts on the subject.  Attendees raved over the depth of knowledget they received.  We have renewed our contract with Positive Coaching Alliance which provides parent and family education on positive and realistic expectations for youth athletes - again I strongly encourage all CBAA parents to participate and support this program - it is 1-2 hours that will greatly improve and strengthen our children's experience with sports. In January, we will be introducing our CBAA Discount Card to support our capital development programs. The card will provide our members and friends with discounts at several local business - more details to come

CBAA Board Meeting - We will changing our meeting schedule to every other month and will shifting to Monday evenings.

Our Chariman Retires  - I want to announce with gratitude and some sadness that Dale Herbst has retired from the CBAA Board serving as its Chair since 1989. Dale's participation of CBAA goes back to the Association's beginnings nearly 40 years ago - his service includes supporting 4 generations of CBAA youth athletes. His contributions and accomplishments are numerous and significant - the most visible is the Herbst Sports Complex which provides playing space for all three CBAA sports programs. We are planning a tribute to Dale's service and are looking for current and former Association members to help us plan and conduct - please consider supporting this event.

 
Getting Involved - Finally, I want to make a personal plea for all Association members to consider becoming more involved in supporting our programs - we need more volunteers. As an example, I am moving to my third position in six months - I started 2012 as CBAA Vice Chair; was asked to be CBAA Soccer President in March and assumed the role as Acting CBAA Chair upon Dale's retirement. I am not unique - we have other CBAA leaders who are filling multiple roles as coaches, team managers, program leaders and Association Board members. We have had an incredible response with new volunteers in the last six months supporting the new CBAA Soccer program - Basketball and Lacrosse are also looking for volunteers whether you can give a few hours at the snack bar or other CBAA events, coach a team, or join in a leadership position - please let us know.

Please remember to support and respect the efforts of all players and volunteers including the coaches and referees who provide their time and effort to provide a safe and fun playing environment to our CBAA youth both during home games as well as when we are guests at away contests.

Sincerely,

Robert Law,

Acting CBAA Chair and CBAA Soccer President