Mission & Philosophy

CASA MISSION STATEMENT

“To be a leader in the development of better communities by promoting a positive atmosphere, interactive athletic training, education, healthy lifestyle traits and whole-family inclusion.”

Community Athletic Sports Academy (C.A.S.A.) strives to promote family integration through sports and education.

We believe the best way to invest in the future and contribute to a positive legacy is to help develop our youth.  We strive to provide the ‘CASA‘ (home) environment where our youth can be exposed to good role models; safe surroundings where they feel comfortable and where they belong.  Using this sense of “belonging” and the motivation from sports equips them with good decision-making skills and healthy life habits.

In order to accomplish this complicated task effectively, it is imperative to provide high quality services and involve each member of the family.  We must incorporate and improve overall household circumstances.  C.A.S.A. partners with educators to follow up on academic development – with a direct impact on kids’ favorite activities.  This will teach them discipline and provide a sense of accountability regarding academic results.

All kids want to play, and we will create a really “cool” program where they want to participate, but in turn they must “earn” the right to participate by developing the core values and habits that will improve their lives in the long run.  We teach these core values and skills in a fun way using the sports as the “candy” to make sure life skills are above all second nature in their development.  Starting from this perspective while understanding the kids’ view in life where “all I want to do is play”, we can leverage their personal enjoyment to emphasize the importance of acquiring life skills and the need for them to “earn” what they want.

C.A.S.A. integrates in the most important components of healthy development for our youth – family and education.  We include the whole family in our sports activities to focus on community advancement.  We play and learn together while having fun and sharing in accomplishment.  C.A.S.A. provides community recreation at affordable prices, where every member can have the “candy” of family togetherness.  We use the leverage of sports to educate all family members about the importance of healthy habits.  Classes for parents on everyday basics are provided covering nutrition and healthy cooking.  Eventually, we want to provide classes on English language, taxes, insurance, financial matters, etc.   We want parents to be rejuvenated and prepared every day to get the best out of their kids and themselves.

All kids are good in nature before society and the struggles of life often scar their personalities.  The idea is to reach out to them at a very young age, before drastic events strike their personalities and use their normal playing development to “program” healthy habits and positive values.  By keeping them busy pursuing a goal, we give them time to develop within a controlled environment and provide them the skills needed for wherever life takes them.

We focus our efforts on serving inner-city families.  Our most important families are those with children 4 to 14 years old. In order to serve them properly, we must reach the entire household.  The inner-city families represent the social segment most in need.  There are a lot of negative factors surrounding our youth in less privileged neighborhoods.

There are many different family arrangements faced with a wide range of circumstances.  C.A.S.A. philosophy benefits families of any format by providing a sense of community where everybody’s strengths are used to help raise the kids in a positive environment.  Families who can help the most are actually helping to raise the kids of other families with parents that are in great need of assistance.  This portion of the philosophy stems from the concept of “it takes a village to raise a kid.” The goal is to create a safe environment for the development of all the kids in the community and expose them to positive role models on a daily basis.

Many parents in the inner city, did not have the opportunity to gain an academic education or where not involved in organized sports when they were kids.  Sometimes, they do not recognize the importance and positive influence sports could provide for the healthy development of their children. Other times they just do not have the time or financial resources to provide these opportunities for their children.  Our strategy is to use what all kids have in common – the love for playing. By bringing the families together so that the parents who can support their kids and be there, the C.A.S.A. family will “help” raise the children of the parents who cannot afford to be as fully supportive.  By building the local economic model around a tightly knit community, C.A.S.A. is self-sustainable.

Kids with Hispanic Heritage are the fastest growing group in America and their favorite sport is soccer.  The delivery method of athletic competition should be in a community environment.

C.A.S.A. participants will be better positioned for a smooth transition into adolescence and young adulthood.  Our purpose is to re-direct at-risk youth from gangs and apathy into a setting where goals and achievements through playing are the driving force for development.

In using playing as the powerful motivator, C.A.S.A. aims to prevent drug abuse, alcoholism, lack of motivation, depression, obesity, and disease in general.  This has a very productive economic impact because these individuals will be productive assets to society.  Sports are just the “candy” to keep them striving; but along the way, they learn great values, life skills and the importance of academic education.