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PPA's seasonal Spirit Week is an excellent way to bring communities together and celebrate the joy of sportsmanship. It's an opportunity for kids to showcase their talents, make new friends, and learn valuable life skills. As the week comes to a close, it's essential to take a moment to reflect on the highlights and accomplishments of the weekend. One of the most crucial aspects of any youth sports festival is the spirit of sportsmanship. It's a reminder to everyone involved that winning isn't everything. The festival is an opportunity to celebrate the passion, dedication, and hard work of all the participants, regardless of the outcome. Thank you to all of the teams who submitted their team photo or video to win money towards a team party! Below we have listed our winners: DEVELOPMENT SOCCER TEAM WINNERS DEVELOPMENT HOOPS TEAM WINNERS

April 20, 2023 Quick recap: Prem Soccer teams achieve fantastic results at top level travel tournaments this pre-season, including The Adidas National Cup, Baltimore Mania Soccer Showcase, South Hampton Cup, Alexandria Soccer Kickoff . At the Alexandria Kickoff, one of our videographers captured some of the action of our younger teams. Can you spot your kid!? Here's a record of our the silverware our teams took home: Nik Kapus, Director of Coaching said, "Celebrating our teams' successes in the spring preseason tournaments is a testament to the hard work and dedication our players, coaches, and families have put in through the Fall and Winter seasons. We've seen significant improvement in our teams' skills, teamwork, and overall performance, and we're excited to see this translate into a successful regular season this spring. I couldn't be prouder of our players and coaches, and I'm confident that our club is tracking tracking well to continue to grow and thrive."

Alan Stein JR, Keynote Speaker, Author, and legendary performance coach is set to speak to parents Tuesday, May 23rd from 7:00 - 8:15 pm at Whitman HS Auditorium. This event is open to all interested parents. To register click here: Alan has spent his entire life immersed in basketball – he played college basketball at Elon University, was an internationally renowned performance coach for 15+ years (check out the pictures at the bottom of the attached flyer!), and has three children that all currently play for PPA. He has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in youth sports parenting! Alan currently serves as a corporate keynote speaker and author. For more insight into his philosophy and perspective on improving performance, check out his interview on the Ed Mylett Show. Plus there's a special BONUS: First 300 parents that register will get a FREE copy of Alan’s book , The Sideline: A Survival Guide for Youth Sports Parents at the event.

If you’ve ever been involved with PPA Hoops as a player, coach or parent, you probably know Coach Freddy Obame: the hilarious, six-foot-seven, french-speaking PPA coach who played professional basketball overseas in seven different countries. Freddy is a determined competitor on the court, but off the court he’s as funny, friendly and likable as it gets. For our first-ever PPA Hoops Coach’s Blog, we sit down with Freddy and pick his brain to get to know the Gabon native on a more personal level. So, what does Coach Freddy like to do when he’s not coaching for PPA? “I like to eat!” Freddy says enthusiastically. “Usually when I’m off from work, I like to go find a new restaurant, and go see a movie. I spend time with my wife, Marina, because basketball takes a lot of time, so when I’m on a break I like to spend time with her.” Freddy and Marina have been together since college, when they met at University of Maryland-Eastern Shore. “Even when I was on my school team, we had a lot of travel, a lot of practice… I was basically on campus 50% of the time, and she understood it then, and she understands it now,” Freddy says. “That’s probably a big reason we’re together, because she gives me the space when I need it, and I give her her space when she needs it. She understands my job and my goals.” Besides going out to eat and going to the movies, Freddy and Marina also enjoy going shopping—at the mall, and online—and for Freddy, that shopping usually involves buying sneakers. Lots, and lots, of sneakers. In fact, anyone who’s had the pleasure of having Freddy as a coach knows that he is also a bonafide sneakerhead, boasting over 100 pairs of kicks; indeed, Freddy owns so many pairs of shoes that he has a difficult time finding space in his house to store them all. “If I count everything, I think I have more than 100 pairs of sneakers. Maybe I wear half of them… every month I get a new pair,” Freddy says. “Since I started working, and even since I was living overseas, I’ve been buying them. When I move house to house, I have to carry all of them with me. Sometimes if I don’t want to wear them, I might sell them to just have more space.” We asked Freddy to list his Top 10 favorite sneakers that he owns right now. The question seemed to stump Freddy at first (“This is too hard!” he exclaimed). Eventually, Freddy rattled off his Top 10 list, which is as follows: Off-White UNC Jordan I, Jordan 8 PE Hachimura, Bred Jordan I, White/Black/Varsity Red Jordan II, Jordan XI Legend Blue, Jordan IV Bred, Jordan XIV Ferrari Red Suede, Jordan UNC III, Jordan XI Bred, Jordan XVIII 2018. Needless to say, you’d have a hard time competing with Freddy’s arsenal of Jordans. On the court, though, Freddy is fired up for the spring season, in which he’s coaching two PPA Premier teams (3rd Green Boys and 8th Blue Boys), as well as several Development teams. Freddy spoke to us about the season outlook for his Premier squads. “For Premier 3rd Green Boys, we have a pretty exciting season ahead. We’re playing in the Soaring Stars league, and we’ll also play in 2 tournaments. Everybody is excited and we’ve been working hard in practice, looking forward to it,” Freddy explains. “I’m always trying to motivate the young boys and I really feel the fire burning inside of them. These are young kids who want to go after it. It will be a pretty challenging season but I’m looking forward to it, and I know the players are, too.” “With the 8th graders, we have a fairly new team, as we just added several new players. We are trying to mesh them all together and see who can work well with each other,” Freddy explains. “I’ll be experimenting early on in the season with rotations. The new additions are really going to help our team move forward, I believe. It’s gonna be my job as the coach to try to mesh everybody because the roster is pretty deep right now.” The 8th Blue roster may be deep, but it’s not nearly as deep as Coach Freddy’s sneaker closet. With the spring season officially upon us, it’s time to lace up a fresh pair of Jordans and get to work! Big thank you to Freddy Obame for this blog. To learn more about Coach Freddy, check out his bio: Originally from Gabon, Africa Played for Monroe College in New York before transferring to the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore Played professionally in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Nigeria, Tunisia, France, and Turkey, and represented his national team of Gabon in the 2015 and 2016 Africa Cup of Nations

Fifth grader Evan May holds the ball in triple threat on the right wing. In the waning minutes of a close championship game at a BigTimeHoops tournament, the young hooper is calm and collected as he pass-fakes, hits the low post, and sprints to set an off-ball screen for a teammate, who curls to the rim for an easy bucket. The unselfish play sparks a 12-2 run to deliver a championship for PPA Premier 5th Green Boys, one of several for Premier Hoops this winter season. “I’m so proud of how the players executed down the stretch,” 5th Green head coach Ken Lau said. “When we found ourselves in a bit of a hole, the boys stayed positive and stayed connected as a team.” PPA Premier Hoops is on the rise. Premier Hoops just wrapped up its biggest winter season to date, and collectively, the program captured 5 championships over the winter 2022-23 campaign. In addition to 5th Green’s BigTimeHoops victory, the program also saw championships from 4th Green Girls, 4th Green Boys, 3rd Green Boys and 6th Green Girls. We spoke with 4th Green Girls head coach Raven Gerald after her team’s big win at the Charm City March Madness Splash tournament in Manassas, VA, in March. “The girls competed hard the entire weekend – there wasn’t much of a letdown from game to game,” Gerald said. “I’m so excited to see how far this team can go in the spring season. The sky's the limit!” Meanwhile, the 8th Green Boys team, led by Coach Michael McClain, made it to the championship session at the Marquee Select Circuit, a high-level independent AAU circuit which showcases the best talent from the East Coast. Although 8th Green Boys fell short in the championship session, Coach McClain couldn’t have been prouder of his young ballers. “To make it to the championship weekend in our first-ever travel circuit is an accomplishment, to say the least. All the credit goes to the players, who worked hard at every single practice and executed day in, day out.” This spring, the PPA Premier Hoops program looks to add more trophies to the mantle and continue to build on the winter season’s success. The 17-team travel club will compete in dozens of tournaments and leagues across April, May and June, and will be playing its best basketball of the academic year by the end of the spring season. Despite PPA Premier Hoops’ recent success, program director Eli Schwadron told us that player development is still a major priority, and reinforced that coaches will not sacrifice player development solely for wins and trophies. “Obviously, we want all of our teams to win and have results-based success,” Schwadron said. “However, as coaches, our main focus is still on player development, and helping to inspire confidence in each of our players to continue to love the game and grow.” Premier 5th Green Boys won the 11U Gold Division at the Big Time Hoops Kickoff Challenge in March 2023. In a tough and physical championship game, the boys overcame a late 3 point deficit to finish the game on a 12-2 run to secure the title. With the win, the team earned an automatic bid to the Big Time Hoops National Championship for Summer 2023. PPA Premier 4th Green Girls won the Charm City March Madness Splash tournament in Manassas, VA in March 2023! PPA Premier 8th Green Boys made it to the championship session of the Winter 2022-23 Marquee Select Circuit! Premier 6th Green Girls took home the championship in the Charm City Holiday Explosion tournament in Sterling VA in December 2022!

PPA is thrilled to announce a new partnership that will serve as a wonderful resource to our community with Evolving Athlete Academy, created and operated by Jen Hoy and Luke Bunder. Evolving Athlete Academy’s mission is to help middle and high school student athletes to overcome performance anxiety, build genuine confidence and develop important life skills so that they can reach their fullest potential and live extraordinary, happy lives. We highly recommend them, and believe that their approach and the tools they teach will be of great benefit to the many amazing youth athletes and their parents in our programs. The connection between PPA and Evolving Athlete Academy goes back to our very own Annie Worden, Director of Premier Soccer, all the way to her playing days on the big stage with the Chicago Red Stars, where she shared the field with Jen Hoy. Jen is a 7-year professional soccer player, Princeton grad and Certified Integrative Health Practitioner with experience playing with the U-23 Women's National Team. Luke Bender, co-creator and operator of Evolving Athlete Academy alongside Jen, is a retired pro boxer, certified in Neuro Linguistic Programming, Time Line Therapy™, Integrative Nutrition Health Coaching (IIN) and he is currently studying Neuro Semantics and positive psychology. Together they run Evolving Athlete Academy, which takes a big picture approach to helping student-athletes to build genuine confidence, accomplish their goals, and actualize their highest and best performance. They most commonly help student-athletes who are struggling with performance anxiety, self-doubt, and low confidence, but also help athletes who simply want to take their sports and academic performance to the next level. Our entire goal here at PPA is to build pathways forward to higher levels of competition. We are constantly looking for new and better ways to accomplish this goal, and this partnership gives us the opportunity to better support our athletes off the field so they can be more successful on it. We are beyond excited for this opportunity for our players and parents. To give you a sense of what this partnership can offer, Coach Jen and Coach Luke will be doing a workshop for us each month. There is no cost to attend for PPA members. Here are the 3 workshops happening over the next 3 months: March’s workshop occurred last Sunday. The topic was "The 5 Crucial Mistakes That Parents Most Often Miss That Can Affect Their Children for the Rest of Their Lives." To download the replay, GO HERE. The second workshop is on Sunday, April 30th and it's called "How Parents Can Help Their Athletes to Have an Outstanding Performance At Their Next College ID Camp." For details and to register, GO HERE. The third workshop is on Sunday, May 21st: "Turning Performance Anxiety into High Performance: How to Develop High Performance Self Talk." For details and to register, GO HERE. Please email Jen at support@evolvingathleteacademy.com with any questions. This partnership announcement comes just weeks after PPA announced its partnership with Trace, an innovative player recording and tracking platform. Annie Worden noted, "I believe this partnership with Trace is a game-changer for us. It gives us access to cutting-edge technology that will help us to improve our coaching, strengthen our player development, and create a more engaging and connected experience for our players and families. We're going to roll it out with a few teams this spring, and then plan to launch it 100% going into next year." Read more of that announcement here. These are certainly exciting times as we continue to make headway toward providing the best competitive-club experience in the DMV-area. Headed into the Spring Season, PPA is looking to build on a very successful Winter Season. More to come!

3/16/23 PPA is excited to announce a new partnership with Trace, the innovative soccer video platform that records games and captures player highlights. This partnership promises to elevate PPA's development of players, and create a host of extra benefits to coaches, players and families. With Trace, PPA Premier games will be recorded by AI video technology that tracks the ball and the players enabling coaches to access full game recordings. Using the game film, coaches can analyze team tactics, player performance, and work with their players on developing their soccer IQ with concrete feedback from game footage. In addition to creating game recordings, Trace videos offers a range of features that make it easier for players and families to stay connected and engaged with the club. For example, Trace automatically creates personalized highlight reels for each player, so they can easily share their best moments with family and friends. And with the platform's social sharing tools, our players can easily share their highlights on social media, building their personal brands and attracting the attention of college recruiters and professional scouts. Annie Worden, Director of Premier Soccer, noted, "I believe this partnership with Trace is a game-changer for us. It gives us access to cutting-edge technology that will help us to improve our coaching, strengthen our player development, and create a more engaging and connected experience for our players and families. We're going to roll it out with a few teams this spring, and then plan to launch it 100% going into next year." To see our latest game highlights from Trace: To see our Trace Leaderboard:

March, 2023 PPA Premier is excited to announce tryouts for its Hoops Premier Program. Tryouts will be held June 5th - 9 for players rising into grades 3rd-9th. Tryouts are open to Players who have NOT participated in our Development League, or to players invited by PPA Coaches. Registration is now open: https://myppaportal.com/user/registration/selectprogram/tryouts Overview of the Premier Hoops Program: PPA Premier Hoops is emerging as the top travel basketball program in the DC/MD region to offer both BOYS and GIRLS options. The goal of the program is to provide advanced players with a highly competitive playing experience, to play in the region's top basketball leagues and tournaments, and to develop players to their highest potentials on and off the court. Our coaches strive to prepare the players for their next level of basketball, and to provide life lessons along the way. Players stay with their teams and coaches year-round, and coaches hold film sessions, 1-on-1 evaluations, and more to teach the game and help develop and motivate the players. To see more information about the premier hoops program, read our program guide. Eli Schwadron, Premier Hoops director, noted, "This past year, our premier program rose to the next level—I’m extremely proud of our players and coaches for all of their hard work and commitment. We had teams competing and performing at high levels, including Premier 1, BigTimeHoops, ZeroGravity events, and more. As a program, we are also sending more teams to travel tournaments and circuits. As we look ahead to 2023-24, we're excited to host tryouts in the early summer to identify talented players we can add to the program and further our success next year." Tryout Schedule: Monday, June 5th, Silver Creek MS, 6:15-7:30PM RISING 5TH GRADE BOYS Monday, June 5th, Silver Creek MS, 7:45-9:15PM RISING 7TH GRADE BOYS Tuesday, June 6th, Maret School, 6:00-7:30PM RISING 8TH + 9TH GRADE GIRLS Tuesday, June 6th, Maret School, 7:30-9:00PM RISING 8TH + 9TH GRADE BOYS Tuesday, June 6th, Sidwell Lower, 6:00-7:30PM RISING 3RD GRADE GIRLS Tuesday, June 6th, Sidwell Lower, 7:30-9:00PM RISING 6TH GRADE GIRLS Wednesday, June 7th, Wheaton HS, 5:45-7:15PM RISING 4TH + 5TH GRADE GIRLS Wednesday, June 7th, Silver Creek MS, 6:15-7:30PM RISING 4TH GRADE BOYS Friday, June 9th, GDS Lower School 6:30-8:00PM RISING 7TH GRADE GIRLS Friday, June 9th, Sidwell Lower, 6:00-7:30PM RISING 3RD GRADE BOYS Friday, June 9th, Sidwell Lower, 7:30-9:00PM RISING 6TH GRADE BOYS Tryout FAQ's: Why does PPA Premier hold tryouts in June, instead of Feb/March like other AAU programs? PPA Premier holds its tryouts in early June, so that players can stay with their same team, and same coach, for the entire upcoming academic year. Teams tend to really start to gel by late fall and early winter, and then play their best basketball in the spring after having spent 6-7 months playing together. At PPA, we feel it’s important to keep players and coaches together for the school year. Who should come to Tryouts? We're looking for players who are serious about basketball and want to play hoops year round. Tryouts are open to boys and girls in grades 2-9. What should I bring to Tryouts? Athletic attire, a basketball, and a water bottle. What should I expect at Tryouts? At the tryouts, players will be organized according to their grade and compete in a series of full-court scrimmages. How soon will I find out if I made the team? We expect to reach out to players 5-10 days after the tryout. If I get invited to join a team, what happens next? If you get invited to join a team, we'll give you all the information you might need for what's included in the program and give you a few days to review the information and let us know your decision. If you decide to join the team, programming could start as soon as this summer. What is the difference between PPA's Premier Program and Development Program? The Premier Program is a select program, meaning players need to try out to be invited to join a team. Players are organized by age and skill level and play on teams that compete year round in competitive leagues and tournaments. Teams normally practice 2 times/week. The Development Program is open to players of all levels, and allows parents to form teams and invite friends to join. The league emphasizes a balance of fun and competition and players participate on a seasonal basis. Teams normally practice once a week. Many players in our premier program start out in our Development Program. If you're interested in joining a premier team, but you’re not sure about the commitment level or if your child is ready for the competitive level, you can consider joining the Development Program as a lower commitment option. Do you have a high school travel program? Yes, we offer a high school travel/AAU program. Our high school Premier teams will follow a much different schedule than younger Premier teams, as players are dedicating time to their high school JV/Varsity teams, as well. The format for HS travel is 10-11 tournaments during the normal AAU season [March-August], then tournaments based on availability in Fall [Sept.-Nov.], and practices during the winter [Nov.-Feb.] based around school team game/practice schedules Are current/returning PPA Premier players required to attend tryouts? Yes, tryouts are mandatory for returning players, as well. During tryouts, each age group/gender is re-evaluated. New rosters are then formed for the subsequent academic year, with teams solidified for the proceeding fall, winter, and spring seasons. Will there still be Premier practices for current teams, the week of Premier Hoops tryouts? No, we cancel practices the week of tryouts so that our coaches can staff and run a successful tryout for new and returning players. How many Premier teams will be formed for my player's age group? How many roster spots are available for my player's age group? The number of Premier teams formed, and number of roster spots available, depends on the size of the talent pool that attends our tryouts in June. It is hard to gauge the number of teams and spots available until tryouts occur. Can my player participate in both Premier Hoops and Premier Soccer? Yes; Premier Hoops coordinates with Premier Soccer each pre-season, to de-conflict any potential scheduling issues with practices between all players who do both PPA Premier sports. We cannot guarantee a fully de-conflicted schedule. Can my player participate in both Premier Hoops and Development Hoops? Yes; many of our Premier players play in both Premier and Development. Premier Hoops tends to take priority over Development if, and when, there is a conflict between the two teams' schedules. Who should I contact if I have questions? info@ppateam.com

March, 2023 Spring tryouts are now closed. Players interested in joining a PPA Premier team should contact info@ppateam.com Overview of the Premier Soccer Program: The leading select travel soccer program in the DC, MD region. Players play on teams organized by their birth year with PPA's renowned professional coaching staff. The goal of the program is to provide advanced players with a highly competitive playing experience, to play in the region's top soccer leagues and tournaments, and to develop players to their highest potentials on and off the court. To see more information about the premier soccer program, read our program guide. Director of Premier Soccer, Annie Worden, noted, "This past year our premier program rose to the next level. We were able add a few more State Championship titles to our resume, including 1 outdoor and 2 with Futsal. We've made meaningful progress with our partnerships with DC United and Washington Spirit to provide more access for top level players to get to the next level. We had teams across the board competing, winning, and performing well in some of the best leagues in the region including EDP, NCSL, National League and Sam Select, as well top tier tournaments including Jefferson Cup, National Pro Series, Columbia Classic, Arlington Tournament. As we look ahead to next year, we're super excited about the staff we have coming back to keep our momentum going, and we have 2 big new partnerships we're launching next year with Trace Video and Under Armour to continue improving the experience of our community." Tryout Schedule: *Please refer to the Tryout Registration Page for the most updated tryout schedule. Tryout FAQ's: Who should come to Tryouts? Tryouts are open to boys and girls from age groups 2016 - 2007. We're looking for players who are passionate about soccer and want to play at a competitive level. What should I bring to Tryouts? Athletic attire, soccer ball, water. What should I expect at Tryouts? At the tryouts, players will be organized according to their age group and will play in games, skill drills, and/or fitness tests. How soon will I find out if I made the team? We expect to reach out to players 5-10 days after the tryout. If I get invited to join a team, what happens next? If you get invited to join a team, we'll give you all the information you might need for what's included in the program and give you a few days to review the information and let us know your decision. If you decide to join the team, programming could start as soon as this summer. What is the difference between PPA's Premier Program and Development Program? The Premier Program is a select program, meaning players need to tryout to be invited to join a team. Players are organized by age and skill level and play on teams that compete year round in competitive leagues and tournaments. Teams normally practice 2 or 3 times/week. The Development Program is open to players of all levels, and allows parents to form teams and invite friends to join. The league emphasizes a balance of fun and competition and players participate on a seasonal basis. Teams normally practice once a week. Many players in our premier program start out in our Development Program. If you're interested in joining a premier team but your not sure about the commitment level or if your child is ready for the competitive level, you can consider joining the Development Program for the Spring or Fall Season. Who should I contact if I have questions? Age Group Directors Players born in 2016 - 2012: Yikalo@ppateam.com 240-856-9427 Players born in 2011 - 2010: Lucas@ppateam.com Players born in 2009 - 2007: Harrison@ppateam.com 301-651-2141

What's In this Article? - Thank you from our Directors - Recap of Spirit Week - Recap of Hoops End of Season Tournament - Recap of Soccer End of Season Tournament March 16, 2023 PPA's Development League's wrapped up last weekend in what was a record breaking season for PPA. With over 250 teams competing in basketball and futsal leagues throughout the DC and Montgomery County region, we saw more drama, player skills, parent posters, buzzer beating shots, and great play than ever before. I got a chance to speak with the two lead Directors of our Futsal leagues - Damario Clarke for Hoops and Steven Rogers for Futsal, to get their thoughts on the season. Here's what they had to say: Damario: "First off, I'd like to thank the parents for helping us put together the most exciting league play of our history. Your commitment and support to our program was essential in creating an environment where or young athletes could learn, grow, and have fun. When we opened registration back in November, we knew we were in for a big season when after only 8 days we had to close the registration and open the waitlist. We had more teams participate than ever before which made the league exciting, fun, and competitive. As we look forward to upcoming seasons, we are excited to build upon the successes (and fix some of our mistakes!) to continue providing a positive environment for the players." Steven: "Normally, the winter season is considered the "off season" for soccer. But this winter, we saw more families sign up for Futsal than ever before, which helped us deliver a better season. When we have more teams play, we can organize our leagues to have better game parity, and ultimately, a better player experience. This season we experimented with playing games both indoors and outdoors, and learned a lot in how we can continue improving our leagues for the future. As we look ahead, I'm excited about the upcoming Spring Season, where we can get back outside and go full swing into the soccer season." PPA Spirit Week In our Development Programs, we like to specialize a few weekends of Gamedays. One of our favorite weekends is Spirit Week where teams came out with mascots, stuffed animals, posters, banners, pom poms, face paint, posters, and much more! The turn-out this winter did not disappoint: PPA SPIRIT WEEK VIDEO RECAP: We also want to thank everyone who entered our team gift card give away. Congrats to some of our winning teams who put on display the upmost team spirit! FIRE TIGERS - 2/3 GIRLS - Coach Marcus SHARKS - MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS - COACH KEN BLIZZARDS - MS BOYS - COACH RODOLFO STODDARD - K/1 BOYS - COACH HOWARD ST PATS - COACH KEVIN End of Season Tournaments At the end of each season, our Development Leagues run their signature End of Season Tournaments to crown a champion of the league. These weekends give our coaches and players a chance to chase their dreams of glory and play with a bit more competitive spirit than they would during the seasons. This Winter, we held tournaments for Basketball and Futsal that were full of excitement, passion, tears of heart-break, and tears a joy. Here's a quick recap End of Season Basketball Tournament As this tournament began the excitement and energy was palpable. Parents and coaches are cheering on their teams, hoping for a chance at victory. This season, we think the tournaments drew the most intense levels of competition we've ever seen. Even though many of our players are young, when it comes to the tournament players know to turn the gears up with a high level of intensity and focus. But no matter what happens during the game, at the end its important to see the team sportsmanship and camaraderie. Of course, it is also fun to see the players showcase their individual talents. There are always a few standout players who impress with their speed, agility, and shooting abilities. It is exciting to watch them take charge of the game and lead their team to victory. For most teams, the tournament can be bittersweet. All the teams come in with aspirations to win, but most will fall short. So for the teams that persevere and pull off the impossible; Congratulations on being a champion! Winners 3rd Girls- Wes Dragons 2nd Girls- Wyngate Wildcats 2nd Boys- Ballers 3rd Boys- Bullis Nets 4th Boys- Maret Frogs 4th Girls- Wildcats 5th Boys- Bradley Hill Bobcats 5th-7th Girls- Madness 6th/7th Boys- GDS Grizzlies 7th/8th Boys- DC Yeeters End of Season Futsal Tournament The Futsal tournament is quickly becoming a big deal. What was once a small tournament with a few teams participating, is now one PPA's fastest growing tournament. Kind of like the basketball version of Soccer, Futsal is played 5 v 5 on the dimensions of a basketball court. It is a fast-paced and dynamic sport that demands skill, speed, and teamwork. This year's tournament put those skills on display! Check out some of our teams from this year's tournament! Futsal is a sport that is loved by millions of people around the world. It is a game that requires skill, teamwork, and determination, and it is a fantastic way for kids to stay active and healthy. But for many kids, futsal is more than just a game. It is an opportunity to make new friends, learn important life skills, and develop a sense of confidence and self-esteem. This Winter, each team demonstrated their unique style and approach to the game. Some teams relied on quick, aggressive play, while others focused on patient, possession-based tactics. Every game was a unique challenge, and every team had something to offer. As the season comes to a close, the players, coaches, and fans can look back on it with pride and satisfaction. They've created memories that will last a lifetime, and they've shown that futsal is a sport that can bring people together from all walks of life. We will see our Futsal players out on the fields during Spring soccer!

PPA celebrated its seasonal Spirit Week this past weekend. Teams came out with mascots, stuffed animals, posters, banners, pom poms, face paint, posters, and much more! Team managers submitted to enter a visa gift card for their team party. Entries are coming in and we have some great team spirit this season! Check out our spirit week video and photos below! PPA SPIRIT WEEK VIDEO RECAP: We also want to thank everyone who entered our team gift card give away. PPA will follow up to the teams individually who won. Winners are presented below! Congratulations teams! FIRE TIGERS - 2/3 GIRLS - Coach Marcus SHARKS - MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS - COACH KEN BLIZZARDS - MS BOYS - COACH RODOLFO STODDARD - K/1 BOYS - COACH HOWARD ST PATS - COACH KEVIN

January 27, 2023 It's a proud day for PPA! Earlier this month, two Premier teams came home as State Champions, 2 others as Finalists! Each Winter, the best soccer teams around the country have a chance to compete in their State Championship for a chance to be crowned Futsal State Cup Champions. The winners of these state-level tournaments then go on to compete in regional tournaments to determine the top teams in each national region. Congratulations to our Premier Boys Green 2010 and 2011 teams on their 1st Place finishes, and our Premier Girls Green 2013 and 2014 teams on their 2nd place finishes. What happens next? These teams will advance to the US Futsal Northeast Regional Championship, organized by US Futsal, to play against other state champion teams for a shot at the title of regional champion. The tournament will be divided into different age groups in a round robin/knock out format. Aside from competiting for a title, the US Futsal Regional Championships are known as an opportunity for players to showcase their skiils against some of the top competition in the country. Good luck to our PPA Teams! Thank You's are in Order! It takes a tribe. First, we need to thank our coaches - Coach Steven, Coach Jane, Coach Yikalo, and Coach Nick for their hard work and dedication. They have spent countless hours working with our players to improve their skills and develop effective team strategies to be successful at the highest levels of Futsal. Second, we need to thank the parents who sacrifice time and effort to support their children's soccer passions. They drive them to practice and cheer them at games. Thank you Parents! What is Futsal? Futsal is a variant of soccer that is played on a smaller field and with a smaller ball. The game is played indoors, and typically involves five players on each team. Futsal is a popular sport in many countries, and is officially recognized by both FIFA and UEFA. The game is known for its emphasis on technical skill and quick decision-making, and is often used as a way to develop young players' skills HIGHLIGHTS: