The Jericho Athletic Association is a group of hard working, dedicated community volunteers whose ideals over the years have been to allow the children of Jericho to participate in a community sports program. The cornerstone of this organization is the teaching of the basic skills of the game, learning good sportsmanship, and fostering the friendships made.

For over 30 years the Jericho Athletic Association has provided the children of the community an outlet to participate in various organized sports programs. The JAA offers the children four different sports programs during the school year. We start the sport season in the fall with soccer followed by the winter season of Basketball, and we go into spring with bBaseball and the track program is offered throughout the various seasons. The association also sponsors and organizes a travel program for soccer, basketball and baseball, with over 250 children in this program.

The JAA Executive Board members consists of Jack Schnitt - President, Allen Algaze - treasurer, Jon Gelbwaks - vice president/basketball, Chet Bogdan - website, Craig Marshall - legal/insurance, Dick Rosen - track and field, Frank Davis - scheduling, travel baseball, Bill Coyle director of baseball, Gary Strauss - president of baseball, Joel Sweetbaum - director of travel programs, Lisa Goren - sponsors/pictures/flyers, Marc Wiener - Director of Intramural Soccer and Harold Wanderman -Secretary/Publicity/Yearbook.

Over the last few years the JAA has put a bigger emphasis on getting the children involved in sports at a younger age by instituting a number of innovated quality programs to help these younger children in the program learn the basic skills of team sports.

New to the program this year was the presentation to all baseball and basketball participants of the First Annual JAA Sports Yearbook.

The Jericho Athletic Association has over 700 children participating in each of the three main sports, which represents close to 50 percent of the Elementary school's children. The association's success over the years has been because of the hard work of everyone on the association's executive board, the various division heads and the 150 plus coaches who volunteer their time and energy.

The basketball program, under the directorship of Jon Gelbwaks, a Biddy Ball basketball program was started. This program geared to the first and second grade girls and boys with over 240 children participating in clinics given by the Craig Robinson Basketball Academy. The size of the balls, the height of the goals and the distance of the free throw lines have been modified to fit the younger athletes. These simple changes permit the players to develop their ball handling skills and learn the fundamentals of the total game - offense, defense, rebounding, passing and shooting. These basketball players can now learn the proper shooting techniques, rather then just throwing the ball into the basket.

The soccer program under the leadership of Marc Weiner has a clinic program using St. John's Red Storm Soccer Organization specially organized for the Pre - K, kindergarten and first graders, allowing the younger players to have fun, while learning the basic skills and rules of soccer.

The baseball program this year, under the guidance of Bill Coyle and with Gary Strauss as the new baseball president started a very successful kindergarten baseball program with Andrew Marshall, the kindergarten division head. There were over 80 of these young players participating during this past season.

The Jericho Jets Track Club was formed in the spring of 2000 in order to allow young members of the community to develop their skills and increase their talents and abilities in the sport of track and field. The team holds regular practices once a week and enters local indoor and outdoor meets throughout the year, primarily on Long Island. We participate as a team and are a part of the Long Island Track and Field Association, which is the local chapter of USA Track and Field, the organization that oversees the sport in the United States. To date, over 50 youngsters, as young as 5 and up to 14, have participated in practices and meets, including the Colgate Women's Games, the Long Island Youth Championships and the Junior Olympics, as well as in the development meets that are held on a regular basis throughout the year. The Jericho Jets provide an opportunity for the youngsters to participate in the "purest" form of athletics, whether on a serious or a casual basis.

Opening Day Baseball Parade a tradition for many years was welcomed this year with a beautiful sunshiny day. On Saturday morning, April 9 over 700 baseball participants, along with their coaches and parents marched from the Milleridge Inn to the Jackson School baseball fields with all the future major leaguers in their colorful baseball uniforms.

The JAA Annual Picnic is held during the baseball and softball playoffs. This year's picnic was met with perfect weather. The barbecues by Zorn's Catering Service was set up in anticipation of a big turnout. By mid morning with the sun shinning brightly, the playoffs began. During the day, the various leagues with some very exciting games were constantly being played at the baseball fields at Jericho High School.

This picnic is one of Jericho's favorite community activities. Over 1,200 Jericho residents attended during the day, keeping Zorn's very busy serving up an unlimited supply of hamburgers, hotdogs and delicious chicken. Rides were set up for the children to play on. The day was highlighted by the arrival of the Corona Ice stand that provided a welcome dessert for all to enjoy, compliments of one of the sponsors - Camp Specialists.

Many members of the Jericho School Board and School Administration as well as various local Oyster Bay Politicians attended this community event.

The executive board members of The Jericho Athletic Association would like to thank everyone who helped make this year "another successful year". We could not do it without the many volunteer coaches and division heads who offer their time and skills to teach the children the importance of sports in our lives. We do it for one reason, for the children of Jericho, who hopefully will have wonderful memories of participating in the JAA sports program.

To volunteer, become a sponsor or sign your child up, go to www.11753.com.