Greater Joliet Area YMCA

GREATER JOLIET AREA YMCA

C.W. Avery, Central City, Galowich, Morris, Smith

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Meet Sports Director Michael Taylor

 

The Y is a starting point for many kids to learn about becoming and staying active, and developing healthy habits they’ll carry with them throughout their lives.  Whether it’s gaining the confidence that comes from learning to swim, or building the positive relationships that lead to good sportsmanship and teamwork, participating in sports at the Y is about building the whole child, from the inside out.  And, the Greater Joliet Area YMCA’s sports instructors are an integral part of a young athlete’s experience at the Y.

At the helm of the Sports Department at the Galowich and Smith Family YMCAs, you will find Sports Director Michael Taylor. Taylor started his Y career as a part-time employee at the C.W. Avery Family YMCA, working in the Sports and Youth and Family Departments. During his time at the C.W. Avery Family Y, Taylor taught a variety of sports classes, led sports camps, and reffed many youth sports games. He then went on to work in the Y’s Kid Zone and summer day camp programs.  In 2014, Taylor joined the Y’s leadership team as the Galowich Family YMCA’s first Sports and Fitness Director.

In the last five years, Taylor has successfully developed the Galowich and Smith Family YMCA’s Sports Departments, including the Y’s beloved youth basketball leagues in Joliet. With an exciting 2019-2020 basketball season on the horizon, Taylor is eager to welcome new and returning athletes. The Y’s highly-anticipated youth basketball season will tip-off in early January 2020.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Taylor: I grew up in Hanover Park, IL. and I moved to Plainfield, IL. when I was a freshman in high school.  I graduated from Plainfield Central High School in 2007.  I attended Joliet Junior College for my associate’s degree. Then, I transferred to Trinity Christian College where I earned a bachelor’s degree in sports exercise studies and minored in sociology and coaching.

I recently got married in 2018 to my wife Adrian.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not at work?

Taylor: I enjoy spending time with my wife, working out and playing sports.  I am also on a softball and basketball league.

Q: What are you passionate about in life:

Taylor: My faith and my family.  As I get older, I am realizing how important family is to me and the time I spend with them.

Q: What is your favorite part about working in youth sports?

Taylor: I enjoy seeing my previous sports program participants evolve and go on to play sports in high school and college. It’s great that the Y gets to be that ‘stepping stone’ for young athletes and their future sports careers.

Q: What are you looking forward to most for the 2019-2020 basketball season?

Taylor: I am excited about the changes we have made to improve our basketball leagues and the partnership we have created with Joliet School District 86. And, I am excited to continue to grow our youth basketball league in the seasons to come.

Q: What is your favorite basketball team?

Taylor: The Chicago Bulls

There is still time to register your young athlete for an action-packed basketball season!  Registration for the Y’s youth basketball leagues is available online or in-person at your local branch.  If you have questions about the Y’s youth basketball leagues in Joliet or sports programs, be sure to stop by Taylor’s office the next time you visit the Galowich Family Y. Or you can email Taylor directly at [email protected].

YBL Looking For Team Sponsors


The YMCA’s Youth Sports program maximizes the positive effects of playing sports by emphasizing healthy competition and promoting teamwork. The Y focuses on the life lessons that can be learned from sports and coaches strive to instill a positive self-image in each player. Most importantly, in the YMCA league, everyone plays and everyone wins!

The YMCA relies on the generosity of local businesses to help underwrite the costs of its youth sports leagues through sponsorships. Our Youth Basketball League season will be starting soon and we are inviting any interested sponsors to contact the Y and help support a team. The deadline to submit a sponsorship is December 13.

Sponsorship Form

If you would like to learn more about how your business can make a difference in the life of a young Y athlete, please reach out to your local Y branch:

C.W. Avery Family YMCA

Maria Romero
[email protected]
(815) 267-8600, ext. 217

Galowich Family YMCA

Patty Hall
[email protected]
(815) 744-3939, ext. 327

Morris Community YMCA

Chris Interial
[email protected]
(815)-513-8080 ext. 514

Smith Family YMCA

Donnie Chestnutt
[email protected]
(815) 744-3939, ext. 338

Meet the C.W. Avery Family YMCA Sports Team

plainfield YMCA sports team

The Y’s Youth Sports Programs foster new friendships, teaches kids the importance of teamwork and provides youth with fun physical activity.  Spearheading the C.W. Avery Family YMCA’s Youth Sports Program is Sports Director Maria Romero and Sports Manager Omar Solano.

Romero started her Y career as a summer day camp counselor.  At the time, her brother worked in the Y’s summer day camp program and he encouraged her to apply.  For three consecutive summers, Romero continued to work part-time at the Y until she graduated college, and in 2006 she accepted the role as the Kids Zone Manager at the C.W. Avery Family YMCA.  In 2011, she joined the Y’s leadership team as the C.W. Avery Family YMCA’s Sports Director.

Solano’s Y journey began similar to Romero’s. At the age of 18, he was looking for a part-time job in the Plainfield area when he noticed the C.W. Avery Family Y was hiring for its Kid Zone Program. Knowing several friends that worked at the Y, Solano decided to apply for the position.  He started working as a counselor in the Y’s Kid Zone and summer day camp programs and eventually pursued a sports career at the Y. As a former high school athlete, Solano taught youth sports classes and reffed at games. In April, Solano took on the exciting role as Sports Manager at the C.W. Avery Family YMCA.

With the fall sports season in full swing, Romero and Solano are already finalizing plans for the 2019-2020 youth basketball season. The Y’s highly anticipated Youth Basketball League will kick-off in early January 2020.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Romero: I grew up in Plainfield, IL and I have been with the Y for 15 years.  I have a son, Leo, and we both love spending our time at the YMCA!

Solano: I also grew up in Plainfield, IL. And, I attended Plainfield Central High School, where I played on the basketball team for four years.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not at work?

Romero: When I’m not busy working, you can find me working out and staying active playing sports, including softball.  I also enjoy spending quality time with my family.

Solano: Aside from playing sports, I enjoy working out and listening to music.

Q: What inspires you?

Romero: My parents and my son–they make me want to be a better person.

Solano: Definitely my parents.

Q: What is your favorite part about working with young athletes?

Romero: It’s very rewarding to watch a child figure out a sport that’s theirs.  Nothing can describe the feeling I get when I see a child discover a sport they love.

Solano: It’s cool to see the impact a sport has on a child.  From making friends, to learning the fundamentals of a sport, to watching them thrive in a sport they’re passionate about—it’s awesome.

Q: What makes sports programming at the Y unique?

Romero and Solano: At the Y, we work with our athletes and their families.  We want to make every young athlete’s experience enjoyable in any way possible.  And, it’s important for their parents to know that they are not held to any strict obligations. We are understanding and flexible when it comes to their busy schedules.   We’re here for their child(ren) to have a great time playing sports.   

Q: What is your favorite sports team?
Romero: The Chicago Cubs!

Solano: I am also a Chicago Cubs fan, but I enjoy college basketball too.  I am a huge Duke fan!

As a reminder, registration for the Y’s Youth Basketball Leagues is underway! Registration can be done online or in-person at your local branch. If you have questions about youth basketball leagues, youth sports programs or just want to say ‘hi’ to this athletic duo, make sure to stop by their offices the next time you are at the C.W. Avery Family YMCA. You can also email them directly at [email protected] and [email protected].

Keeping Kids Healthy: Nutritional Snacks for Young Athletes

Youth Sports Leagues

With the beginning of fall sports seasons right around the corner, now’s the perfect time to begin searching for recipes for healthy snacks for your child both on and off the field. Providing healthy and nutritional snacks for your child is a great way to keep him/her energized and focused.

Be sure to check out these healthy snacks to help fuel your young athlete during their practices and games:

  • Fruit yogurt
  • Turkey with cheese wraps
  • Low-fat string cheese
  • Cold water with lemon

And, if you’re looking for the right post-game treat, you may want to consider these easy options:

  • Low-fat chocolate milk
  • Whole-grain granola bars
  • Bananas, apples or oranges

As a reminder, the Y’s Fall Youth Sports Leagues will get underway in mid-August.  You can register your child for sports leagues online today or stop by the Y’s Membership Desk during your next visit.

To learn more about healthy snack options for athletes, head over to the full article, courtesy of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Growing Confidence: Lani Hanley’s Story

Building self-confidence is one of the most important aspects of childhood. That is why the Y is focused on opening doors for kids to have positive life experiences. In the case of nine year-old Lani Hanley, a membership at the Morris Community YMCA helped restore an active lifestyle that was put in jeopardy only a few short months before.

Last October, Lani’s mom Dawn picked up Lani and her brother Elijah from school on what had up until then been a normal day. That changed soon after their seatbelts were buckled. 

“We were getting ready to turn out of the school parking lot and we were hit by an impaired driver,” Dawn said. “We were hit on the driver’s side. Both kids were taken to Loyola Hospital. I stayed in Morris with back fractures. Lani had the worst amount of injuries and had to go right into surgery to repair her left arm and left leg.” 

Lani would undergo additional surgeries in subsequent weeks and, thanks to the doctors at Loyola, these procedures were successful.

However, they told her parents early on that the rehabilitation would be challenging. 

“She had plates and pins and screws, a lot of work done to put things back together. She was in a wheelchair for quite some time and she had to go through physical therapy to walk again,” Dawn said. 

Lani’s strength and perseverance would allow her not only to walk, but to regain the confidence to return to athletic activity. Lani, a blackbelt in Taekwondo, was advised to use another activity with less contact to kickstart her full recovery. It was not hard to find inspiration.

“We were watching the NCAA Tournament while she was healing and she got really interested in basketball,” Dawn said. “We got the release for her to try (the Y) basketball camp on May 8 and I’m pretty sure I signed her up that night. She was very excited.”

It was the family’s first interaction with the YMCA and, though Lani had no prior experience with organized basketball, she took to hoops right away.

“At the beginning all of us had our own groups. My friends and I always helped each other,” Lani said.

Her positive attitude and energetic spirit caught the eye of Morris Sports Director Chris Interial.

“She’s on the smaller side but I see kids on every level participating and giving 100 percent and she was someone who stood out,” Interial said. “I would never have thought that she had been in an accident just months before.”

Lani’s dribbling skills were strong for a first-timer and as the muscles on the left side of her body got stronger, her shot eventually came along as well. 

“Sometimes she would not get the result she wanted and she just kept going. She never got down on herself. She kept trying and she got better every day,” Interial said. 

Dawn noticed the pep in Lani’s step after each camp session. 

“She was all smiles every day when I picked her up so I know she had a great time,” Dawn said. “To see her be able to have some positive reinforcement from the coaches was awesome.”

Lani’s clean bill of health now allows her restart martial arts activity. But her time at the Y has fostered a new passion which has spread to other members of the family. 

“We are definitely excited to sign up for the Youth Basketball League. Elijah wants to do some camps, but he’s only three so he has to wait,” Dawn said.

Registration for fall programming, including Youth Basketball Leagues, begins on August 3. To learn more about sports programs at your local Y, click here.

Everyone has a Y story, a way in which the YMCA has impacted your life. Believe it or not, your story has the power to inspire hundreds—if not thousands—of members to follow in your footsteps. To submit a Y story of your own, click here.

Coach Eric Kimble: Our Y’s Everyday Hero

Eric Kimble

Greater Joliet Area YMCA Volunteer

On September 7, the Joliet Herald-News honored 16 individuals in our community as Everyday Heroes. Among these 16 Everyday Heroes was Eric Kimble, who volunteers his time as a youth basketball coach at the C.W. Avery Family YMCA.

On behalf of the Y and all the kids in our youth basketball leagues, we would like to congratulate Coach Kimble on this award. Thank you for being an amazing mentor and leader in the community.  In our eyes, you truly are an everyday hero!

Read Eric Kimble’s full story here.

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