Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) annually honors youth and high school sports coaches throughout the United States, who embody the ideals of the Double-Goal Coach® who strive to win, while also pursuing the even more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports. The Village School’s Head Cross Country Coach, Scott Mastro, was recently named a Houston Chapter winner for Positive Coaching Alliance’s Double-Goal Coach Award. This was a tremendous achievement that spoke volumes about the impact Coach Mastro was able to have with his team. His impact was so great, that PCA felt that his accomplishments were so outstanding that Coach Mastro was named as 1 of the 50 National Double-Goal Coach award winners. Coach Mastro will be honored at the PCA convention in San Francisco, CA this April. Congratulations to Coach Mastro for this historic achievement and for his ability to better our student-athletes both on and off the field.

For more information, please read the attached document.

The boys soccer, boys basketball, and girls basketball teams were recently highlighted in the Houston Chronicle for the success they each had in their seasons. To read the article, click the link below:

http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/memorial/sports/article/Mission-accomplished-again-for-Village-School-6877590.php

Great job by all of our players and coaches! Go Vikings!

The Village Tennis team played Second Baptist on February 23rd at the Ashford Community courts. Winter returned to Houston literally during the match, as temperatures fell and winds gusted, making play difficult for all. The boys took 3 out of 4 matches, leading Village to a 5-3 overall decision. For the boys Vishal P and Amit K played our singles lines, while Inigo A-O partnered with Shaunak S and Parin T partnered with Devan S in doubles. For the girls, Aanchal J and Helen Z played singles, while Divya R partnered with Sandhya S and Katie W partnered with Rhea M.

On March 1st, the Village Tennis team traveled to Pasadena to play Lutheran South Tuesday afternoon. Overall, the Vikings went 3-5. For the Vikings, Aanchal J and Helen Z played ladies singles, while Shaunak S and Vishal P played the boys’ singles lines. The doubles’ lines were played by Divya R & Paulina D and Femke N & Patricia P-B for the ladies, and Inigo A-O & Justus V and Yash A & Amit K for the boys. Match play was highlighted by Helen, who outlasted her opponent in the longest match of the day: 6-3, 6-4.

On Thursday, March 3rd, the Vikings played their first ever home match on the new tennis courts. Village Tennis swept all lines and even a few extra matches in the win vs. Westbury Christian. Special recognition to those who played their first TAPPS match: Nick D, Andonis M. Also notable are Helen Z, Div R, and Femke N, who won two matches each.

During the 2014-15 school year, The Village School Athletic Department made a conscious effort to promote and encourage our athletic teams to experience the many benefits of Service Learning projects. Service Learning is a great way for our student-athletes to gain hands on experience while giving back to the community. Our teams have given generously to many different agencies around the community. They have volunteered their time at soup kitchens, food banks, recovery programs, and environmental leadership programs around Houston. Not only do our teams give their time, but we also sponsor and promote events to help raise awareness for many different causes such as: American Heart Association, Breast Cancer Awareness, and Splash out Leukemia.

As we have transitioned into the 2015-16 school year, The Village School Athletic Department has already surpassed last year’s commitment by increasing our level of involvement within the community. In the fall, we hosted a Dig Pink fundraising event that directly impacted a family. In the winter, we hosted our 2nd annual Breast Cancer Awareness Game, which raised more than $4,000. In the spring, we will host another charitable event that is in the process of being put together.

In addition to our on-campus charity events that our athletic programs host, our teams also go on Service Learning projects around the community. We are currently committed to a year-long Service Project with Barbara Bush Elementary. Our girls basketball and soccer programs have been alternating each week by sending members of their teams to help read to the kindergarten ELL students of Barbara Bush. With class ratios consisting of 25:1, Barbara Bush is in need of assistance for those students who need personal attention. Our girls have done a fantastic job of providing them with added support by tutoring these ELL students for 1 hour each week, in a private 1:1 setting. In the spring, our girls lacrosse, tennis, and golf teams will continue this commitment until the end of the school year. To this point, it has been remarkable to witness the development and progression that each child has been making in both their reading and writing skills.

This winter, our boys basketball and soccer programs visited Open Door Mission. Open Door Mission is a drug and alcohol recovery program that also serves as a transitional living home. Open Door provides programs to its residents and members of the community in order to help ease them back into society. Last year, our boys JV basketball team volunteered at this agency, which marked the first service learning project for our athletic department. This year, the boys Varsity basketball and soccer teams continued our support of this agency by helping in their kitchen area. The boys were tasked with prepping food, making sack lunches for the week, cooking, and cleaning. The boys were also in charge of serving the food to the residents. We were received with open arms. It was a great experience for our boys and one that we are excited to continue in order to provide a helping hand in our community. The boys lacrosse, tennis, and golf teams are scheduled to volunteer at Open Door this spring.

The philosophy of our athletic department is to develop high character in each of our student-athletes. Our goal is to make “Better Athletes, Better People” (Positive Coaching Alliance). These Service Learning projects are teaching our athletes the value of service work, helping them become mindful of people who have different circumstances, and helping them understand the value in volunteer work so they can become better people. The Village School Athletic Department is excited to continue our effort to help our student-athletes grow.

To see more pictures and see videos of our Service Learning projects, visit our Service Learning page here:
http://www.teampages.com/organizations/2542/pages/101104

We are very excited to be entering our second competitive year of Middle School Boys Lacrosse here at Village! Coach Wolfe started the Boys Lacrosse program in 2014 (first year developmental) with a roster of 11 players. Since then, our roster has grown to 24 student-athletes! We are greatly looking forward to being competitive in the fastest game played on two feet. We hope to see you in the stands at Viking Field this season!