The year 1904, when the original St. Francis Xavier Church building on Sixth Avenue and Carroll Street was moved by horses and tree trunks to President Street, was the beginning of a long history of youth sports at the St. Francis Xavier Lyceum. The early years saw city-wide CYO basketball tournaments held at the Lyceum, with the largest held in the 1950s named for Jerry Reilly. The New York Golden Gloves tournaments were also held at the Lyceum, and the parish sponsored a girls’ basketball team in the 1960s under the old rules of half-court play.

Baseball & Softball

In 1968, two parishioners (Jack Murphy & Al Leonard) started SFX Youth Baseball for their young sons and their friends. The original teams were named after American Indian tribes: Apaches, Oneidas, Senecas, Mohawks, & Cayugas. The program expanded each year providing opportunities for both boys and girls, ages 5–15, to play instructional youth baseball. By the early 80’s, the SFX sports board had expanded its outreach to the Brooklyn community at large. Other volunteers that have admirably run the program through the years include George McKeon, Frank Taylor, Jimmy Duffy, John Graham, Jack Franca, Ron Marino, Stan Lehman, Jim Friel, & Javier Rosario.

Between 1985 and 1999, the number of players in SFX Youth Sports grew from 250 to over 850. The Girl’s Softball division was started in 1993 and serves girls aged 8 to 15. To add variety and diversity to the baseball program, the SFX HUSKIES travel team program was added in 2004 led by Christopher Rios, who himself played in our coed baseball program years earlier. SFX Baseball now boasts 50 to 60 teams per year, including six travel teams. SFX Baseball has had such a profound impact on its players over the years that many former players now coach, umpire and sponsor teams. We also have many former players whose children now play for SFX. Soon we will have grandchildren of former players. SFX Baseball is one of the founding members of the Prospect Park Baseball Association (PPBA), which was organized in 1995. PPBA is one of the largest youth baseball leagues in the New York City metropolitan area with over 2000 players on 135 community sponsored teams that play each other in Prospect Park and other parts of Brooklyn.

Flag Football

In 2007, SFX Youth Sports with the help of board member Tom Henderson, launched a bold initiative to expand our services to our communities by adding NFL Flag Football for 11–17 year-old boys . Introduced in 2007, it is the first programs of there kind in the Park Slope/Prospect Park area. The program now has expanded to a Three-Division format for Co-Ed kids from 9 – 11 years old; and Boys Only Divisions for 12-14 years old & 15-17 years Old.

Golf

Also in 2007 a Youth Golf program for coed 7–10 year olds headed by board member John Piccard. This program was also the first of it’s kind in Park Slope, and both parent & child have a great time hitting the links at the Riis Park Golf Facility & getting pointers on developing their short game at the driving range!

Soccer

Catching the soccer wave that spread over the USA, SFX Soccer was born in 1984 headed by two volunteers, Ed Ezra and Ken Stevens. A slow and steady interest grew over the years, and by the 1990s when Denis Meadow and Ron Marino headed the program, participation had grown to over 250 players. The program went on brief hiatus in 2003, then was relaunched in 2005. Through the efforts of Ron Fink and Lenny Rodriguez, the soccer program quickly rebounded to serve over 100 players in 2006. The Soccer program now serves children 4 to 8 years old and a maximium of 10 players per team on 8 teams!

St. Francis Xavier Youth Sports is dedicated to its long tradition of providing community children opportunities to hone their skills, develop team spirit and learn good sportsmanship. We are also dedicated to maintaining our core focus of instructional youth baseball so that no child is turned away due to physical disability or financial need. On opening day each Spring, we look forwarded to the umpire’s call to …. “PLAY BALL!”

By Mary Ann McHugh- Feeney with Stan Lehman & Javier Rosario

 

• Baseball
  • Pee Wee
    • Team 1
    • Team 2
    • Team 3
    • Team 4
  • Pony
    • Team 1
    • Team 2
    • Team 3
    • Team 4
  • Cub
  • Bantam
  • Spr. Bantam
  • Grasshopper
  • Freshman
• Huskies
  • Age 9
  • Age 10
  • Age 11
  • Age 13
  • Age 14
  • Age 15
• Flag Football
  • Ages 9-11
    • Jets
    • Colts
  • Ages 12-14
  • Ages 15-17
• Golf
• Soccer