On 13 May the Lacrosse Spring Clinics kicked off with over 40 boys and girls taking to the field. After many cold and rainy days the sun came out and we had a perfect day to start the clinics.

The clinics run every Sunday from 12:30-14:00 to 17 June and there is still a room to sign up. Go to the online registration.

Bring a Friend Day
Lacrosse is the fastest growing youth sport in North America. Its popularity is also growing in Europe and we want to be a part of that. To support this, the BSA is happy to announce our upcoming Bring a Friend Days.

For those already signed up, your child can invite a friend to participate in a BSA lacrosse clinic on a special date. There is no need for the friend to register and no need to pay. We'd simply like to give kids the chance to try the sport. The dates are:

• Sunday, May 20th- All registered boys can invite a friend

• Sunday, May 27th- All registered girls can invite a friend

Please feel free to contact us with any questions. We look forward to seeing you on the field!

For the second time this BSA season, the lacrosse sticks and nets will be pulled out for our eager players. BSA Spring Lacrosse registration opens this week and the season will begin May 13th.

The BSA lacrosse program has been running every fall and spring season for the last 3 years. The program was initiated by Amy Anderson, Executive Director for the BSA 2008 – 2011, and is the fourth sport to be included in the BSA sports program. Amy continues to be an integral part of the program as the BSA Lacrosse Director and explains her enthusiasm about the BSA and Lacrosse:
"We started the BSA lacrosse program in 2009 to introduce kids in Brussels to one of the fastest growing and most exciting sports in North America. It is fantastic to see BSA kids out on the field at ISB developing their skills and having so much fun learning from our coaches."

The history of the sport of lacrosse draws its roots from North American Indians in the late 19th century. The game was used as training for battle with competitions that lasted many days and spanned over a playing field of several hundred meters! The sport today has been labeled as the fastest sport on two feet and is not only one of the fastest growing sports in North America but the fever has spread to Europe, as the Netherlands also list lacrosse as the sport growing the quickest!

The BSA lacrosse program has been designed as a developmental program which teaches elementary lacrosse skills such as passing, catching, shooting and general positioning. One hour on a Sunday afternoon is normally spent on developing these skills and a half hour is spent putting these skills to the test in a fun scrimmage. The program is lead by a very experienced coaching staff which includes the coaches of the Belgian National team and former North American College Players.

These coaches are supported by a dedicated group of volunteer assistant coaches from the BSA community. If you would like to get involved as a coach please sign up through your child’s registration or send a note to office@bsasports.org

The BSA lacrosse program is open to boys and girls aged 7 – 13 and will take place on Sunday afternoons at ISB from 12:30 – 2:00 starting May 13 to June 17th. For further information please go to http://www.bsasports.org/lacrosse .

Register Online Now

New players to the game are very welcomed! We hope to see you on the field this spring!

 Happy Earth Day! Did you know that BSA Partner Reason2.be also provides recycling services.

Reason2.be is always thinking about how to operate the business more efficiently and ecologically. Their grocery home delivery service lends itself perfectly to collecting as well as delivering. So they have come up with several ways to utilize the deliveries for more than just food delivery. They also collect items for recycling, reusing, disposing and trading. The ‘sustainable services’ offered are a non-profit element of the business, and give customers the chance to give something back.

The Reason2.be ‘sustainable services’ include:

Charity collections.All items are used by the charities to sell to recycling companies

1. Plastic bottle tops to the Belgian center for guide dogs. This charity helps to provide support to the 14,000 blind and partially sighted people of Belgium.
2.Old printer cartridges to Natuurpunt. The printer cartridges are recycled by Tomson recycling, who then donate 1 Euro for each recycled cartridge sold to Natuurpunt. They are an organisation that promotes biodiversity in Belgium.
3. Old reading glasses to lunettes sans frontier. The glasses are donated to developing countries around the World, with an emphasis on Africa. Hospitals distribute to glasses to the poor partially-sighted of the country.
Recycling
4. Corks to Le Petit Liege. This non-profit organisation manufactures insulation material from the used corks.
6. Old books: Oxfam
7. Old pens and markers: Jane Goodall Institute
8. Metal bottle caps:Wildlife rescue center

Recycling service(These items go to the correct recycling place. Costs €1 to customer to use this service)
1. Glass
2.Batteries
3. Brita filters
4. Wire coat hangers
5. Light bulbs

Other services include:
Eco dry-cleaning. Reason2.be collects and drop-off the dry-cleaning of their customers, and uses an ecological dry-cleaners to keep the service in line with their ecological philosophy.

More info is on the website

The BSA is thrilled to welcome Ziegler Relocation as a new BSA Sponsor. Ziegler Relocation is exclusively focused on the private, corporate and diplomatic international market of international moving and relocation. It is owned by the Ziegler Group, a large family-owned logistics business founded in 1908 in Belgium.

Ziegler Relocation assists assignees and their families with their worldwide relocation and provides them with a wide range of superior services in order to ensure them peace of mind and a smooth and seamless relocation experience.

Ziegler Relocation recognizes that relocation is a "people business" and has worked hard to earn trust and has built strong and successful relationships.

Ziegler Relocation is a unique service provider offering both international moving of household goods and relocation activities such as home and school search, immigration and settling in services.

You can find further information regarding their company on their website

BSA Sponsorship and Partnership
If your company is interested in supporting the BSA and helping us to continue to provide sport opportunities to over 900 families in the Brussels community, please contact us office@bsasports.com You can also find further information on our Support BSA pages.

We have the pleasure of welcoming CWM Cadno Pet Services (CCPS) as a new Partner to the BSA! The new BSA partner is Belgium based and offers much desired pet services for dogs, cats and small animals. Not only does the CCPS offer daily hints and tips for helping to keep your pet healthy (…and obedient!), but additional much needed advice for your beloved animal when you are traveling or away.

The CCPS can help you with the following:

• Pet Relocation and Transport.
• Travel Crates.
• Boarding Kennel advice, sourcing & checkups.
• Breed and Breeder selection.
• Dog Training.
• Puppy Preparation.
• Special Animal Foods.

You can find plenty of further information regarding CWM Cadno Pet Services (CCPS) on their website.

This new partnership formation will help BSA better prepare for our upcoming baseball/softball/tee ball season and lacrosse season with new balls for each sport and referees for games, amongst other BSA sporting needs.

BSA Sponsorship and Partnership
If your company is interested in supporting the BSA and helping us to continue to provide sport opportunities to over 900 families in the Brussels community, please contact us office@bsasports.com You can also find further information on our Support BSA pages.

Did you know?
The registration fees one pays only cover a portion of the actual costs involved for your child to play? We rely on donations and sponsors to make up the rest. If you are able to, please consider donating to the BSA to help us continue our youth programs.You can donate online via the website.

The beginning of the month of March saw the BSA basketball season come to a close and the Baseball, Softball and Tee Ball season start up! The gyms at both St. John’s and ISB were all full up on the final BSA Basketball Tournament Day with some teams playing up to 4 games in one afternoon! We had over 250 players bouncing balls and shooting baskets on that final day. All the sweat and effort throughout the season was rewarded with their BSA medal at the end of the day.

Many of those same kids, who were shooting their last baskets, had metamorphosed into baseball players over night snatching their hats and gloves as they hit the diamond at St. John’s for BSA Skills Evaluation Day. We had over 80 children running the bases that afternoon. Our committed volunteers bravely withstood the cold and damp conditions to run our participants through batting, fielding, pitching and base running stations. This evaluation day is an important part of the BSA program that helps in our effort to create balanced teams for our sport league. All the information from the evaluations was then used to place over 250 players on over 20 BSA teams!

These teams have already started hitting the ball diamonds this week with their first practices. BSA teams were scattered all over the fields every weekday evening at both St. John’s and ISB. Many little ones could be seen grinning ear to ear as they were given their BSA jerseys and hats that they will proudly wear throughout the entire season.

We look forward to seeing many members of our BSA community involved this season, whether through coaching (including over 60 volunteers!), organizing our equipment, and supporting and encouraging our teams from the sidelines!

PLAY BALL! 

The students are back in school and BSA is back in action! BSA basketball practices resumed this week as over 200 kids prepare for the final BSA Basketball tournament this weekend. The gyms at both St. John’s and ISB will be full all day Saturday as kids look to score their final baskets for the BSA season.
In addition to our BSA boys basketball teams, boys traveling from SHAPE, USAG and down from the SHINNEN military base in Netherlands, will make for a fun filled 10 team basketball tournament for our Under 13 boys league at ISB.

Our little U6 shining stars will also look for their final “slam dunks” on their mini basketball nets at the British School of Brussels on Sunday afternoon. All the hard work put in throughout the season, will be rewarded at the end of the afternoon with their shiny BSA medal.

The BSA will also be taking to the fields on Sunday with their BSA Baseball/Softball skills evaluation day. This is an afternoon of baseball fun where kids are led through different drills and evaluated by our volunteer coaches. This afternoon is very important for the success of our whole season. Our priority at the BSA is to try and create balanced teams to help ensure each player has a good sporting experience. The evaluations from Sunday are gathered along with the registration evaluations and past season evaluations to help create balanced teams in each of our five baseball/softball leagues.

It is also the first opportunity for many of our volunteer coaches to come out and get a first taste of the upcoming season by meeting the players and various members of the BSA community.

We hope to see many of you joining in on the fun in the gyms and on the field this weekend!

As the snow covered much of the city over the weekend and our cold temperatures stubbornly clung to well below zero, our BSA Winter Soccer kids literally experienced some real winter soccer fun! With hats on every head, and gloves on most hands (along with snow pants on a few) the BSA kids took to the snow covered pitch on Sunday afternoon. There was no need to mark the pitch with cones, as kids simply traced out the sidelines in the snow! Although keeper gloves were available they were rarely needed as most players had winter gloves of their own. The whistle was blown and the fun began with both kids and coaches racing around the field chasing a bright orange soccer ball.

The parents bravely cheered from the sidelines wrapped in every layer they could find! The many thermoses of warm drink also helped keep the insides warm along with the beautiful sun shining on a brilliant afternoon. Fun was had by all! BUT, here’s hoping for warmer weather this Sunday.

The Winter Soccer Program has been part of the BSA program for just over three years. What began with a bag of balls, a few coaches, and a few dozen players has developed into a program with over 80 players and 25 coaches involved.

As our thoughts slowly begin turning to longer days, warmer weather and the springtime, the BSA starts thinking about balls, bats and gloves! BSA Baseball, Softball and T-ball online registration is now open. Your child can register in one of the following programs on offer: U5 and U7 T-ball, U9 machine pitch, U11 boy’s baseball, U13 boy’s baseball, U16 boy’s baseball and U13 girl’s softball. All BSA registration is completed on line. The season begins in mid-March and continues through early June. Practices and games are mainly played at St. John’s and the International School of Brussels (ISB). Players new and old to baseball are welcome!

Join in on the baseball fun and follow along with a long BSA tradition of hitting the diamond on the weekend. The baseball program is the oldest of all the BSA sport programs and began in 1958, at the International School of Brussels under the guidance of James Sidgwick, founder of the BSA. Every year since this date, thousands of children from the Brussels community have donned BSA baseball shirts and are seen running the bases, hitting pop flies and fielding grounders!

The BSA is founded and thrives on the volunteerism of our coaches. If you would like to be involved in the program as a coach, we would love to have you. For information regarding coaching baseball, please go to Baseball Coaching Q&A.

For further information regarding our league please go to our Baseball FAQ.

Photo: The BSA All Stars, 1968

The U6 basketball team had their first practice at the International School of Brussels on Sunday, 22 January. There were over 30 little eager basketball players running up and down the floor along with 6 enthusiastic coaches leading them! The faces of the little ones lit up as they were each presented with their own little basketball and had the opportunity to take their first basketball shots on net! Each player was presented with their own BSA colored basketball jersey that they proudly sported!

Staci DeKunder, Director of BSA basketball, noted: "It was a super day where the kids, parents and coaches worked together to discover some new, basic basketball skills in a really fun environment. The kids practiced dribbling, bounce passes, ball control with their fingertips, and the all time favorite, shooting! They started to develop a sense of team spirit by doing little cheers after the skills stations. There were lots of smiles, and, I imagine, many tired, but excited kids at the end of the session. It is great to see such young children so excited about sports."

The U6 basketball programs continue next Sunday at the British School Brussels from 12:30-1:45.

The BSA Winter Soccer Program kicked off on the afternoon of Sunday 15 January at the International School of Brussels. The winter soccer program is happy to have 80 kids registered this year all being led by over 20 coaches, the largest amount of participants in the history of our winter soccer program.

Paul Johnson, BSA Soccer Director remarked:

“The BSA Winter Soccer program is a great opportunity for many kids to continue playing and developing their soccer skills in a relaxed and informal setting. We have had a fantastic turn out of both players and coaches this year, which attests to the continuing interest and enjoyment of our
BSA soccer programs”

These coaches met prior to the first session to discuss and plan the program along with picking up all necessary equipment for their programs. There are many familiar faces in the winter soccer coaching crew as many also led our teams in our fall soccer program.

They then proceeded out onto the ISB fields and the coaches led the kids through various developmental drills on a fantastic Sunday afternoon of activity.

If your child would like to get involved in Winter Soccer, please refer to our registration page. Please note that all programs except for our U13 boys program are currently wait listed.

The first half of the training took place in the classroom where the basic basketball referee hand signals where discussed followed by the detailed BSA basketball rules. The second half of the clinic took place in the gym where the new referees had the opportunity to referee one of our U13 boys practice scrimmages. It was great for the referees to then get the opportunity for some practical experience in the gym. The referees-in- training quickly realized that game situations are very different from the classroom setting! As the teams are sprinting back and forth up and down the court you have to react quickly to what is going on! The referees also benefitted from some wise words of wisdom by some experienced BSAU13 coaches following their performance:

"Make sure you are constantly encouraging the kids to get out of the front court and on to defense quickly to allow the team to bring the ball up the court” explained Victor Teixeira, U13 boys Head coach. Assistant coach, Chris Yeager went on: “Just be confident out there and make decisive calls!"

BSA is very excited to about this inaugural Jr. Referee Program. Not only do the students benefit from this referee clinic but hey will also have the opportunity to referee some games this season alongside an experienced referee!

Raven Teeples went on to explain:

"The junior referees at the clinic were enthusiastic about, and looking forward to the experience they will gain from, the BSA junior referee program. Their prior basketball knowledge makes each of them great candidates for the BSA junior referee program, which will provide them with new opportunities in a familiar sport."

If you are interested in participating in the BSA Jr. Referee Training, please send an e-mail to office@bsasports.org

Tom Hawkins remarked on this special partnership:
St. John’s is proud to partner with and support the Brussels Sports Association in all their endeavors. As the director at St. John’s, and a coach for BSA, I see first-hand the immense benefits of having such a program for kids from all the various schools here in the Brussels area. All kids are welcome and come together for fun, instruction and competition in a friendly, supportive, professional atmosphere. BSA and its leadership provide great opportunities and experiences for hundreds of kids who might not have a chance to play a sport for their schools or a local club. Thanks to BSA for making our community a great place to live!

Did you know?
Another integral component of BSA’s success is the continued and vital dedication of our volunteers. The BSA sports’ seasons flourish as a result of this community’s strong sense of volunteerism. Members of St. John’s families can been seen devoting their time as BSA board members, sport directors, equipment volunteers, and of course, the always-valued BSA coach! Not only could Tom Hawkins be found on the sidelines this fall coaching his son’s team, his wife, Marcia Carlson, leads her daughter’s basketball team this winter. The Hawkins family is just one of the many examples of St. John’s families involved in coaching and volunteering for our BSA programs.

To mark the occasion, ISB held a thank you reception in the Chateau lounge where ISB staff, along with BSA members were able to meet and greet. Nathan Knight, BSA President presented a plaque to Kevin Bartlet to thank ISB for the newly donated office space along for the continued support offered by ISB to the BSA!

Thank you on behalf of BSA players and parents for supporting our programs. ISB's support enables us to offer meaningful team sports experience to 900 children each year.

Did you know?

• ISB has supported BSA programs throughout the past 50 years by donating field space for BSA practices and games.
• The school works closely with the BSA each week to ensure BSA teams have access to fields and gym space.
• Hundreds of ISB students participate in BSA programs each year supported by their parents and other volunteers.