BIGMONEY UP FORGRABS, AND a LOCALCLUB HOPES TOGETITS SHARE

Kendallville- IN, November 5, 2010 – For twenty youth sports organizations demonstrating their commitment to responsibility on and off the mat, Liberty Mutual will soon make a very memorable contribution, in the amount of a $2,500 Responsible Sports™ Community Grant. Hayden’s ATA Team PRIDE is hoping to be one of them.

Community Grants are part of Liberty Mutual’s Responsible Sports program, which is an ongoing effort championing and celebrating responsibility in youth sports. This community-based program offers meaningful, easy-to-use educational resources for youth sports parents and coaches, including access to on-the-field game and practice preparation tools, as well as self-paced online coursework filled with learning tools, videos, and topics addressing youth sports issues.

“The Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports program targets many of the issues we see happening at youth sporting events by shining a positive light on what it means to be a responsible coach and a responsible sports-parent. Beyond that, Liberty Mutual is making a significant financial contribution to support the efforts of local organizations like Team PRIDE,” said Greg Gordon vice president of Consumer Marketing at Liberty Mutual.

The Responsible Sports program, including the Community Grants, comes at a crucial time for communities like ours. Like other communities across the U.S., our own youth sports programs are under pressure from increasing numbers of participants, limited volunteer activity and mounting program management and administration costs. The Responsible Sports program provides access to valuable resources and assets that can ensure our organizations thrive even under challenging circumstances.

“Team PRIDE in Kendallville helps teach life skills to children through martial arts. This program is for students who can’t afford regular lessons. In today’s economic times the Team PRIDE organization has been low on funds and this grant would help a lot!” said Zach Hayden, the local Team PRIDE coordinator.

Team PRIDE – Kendallville is registered for the Responsible Sports program. They are encouraging individual community members to complete one of the self-paced online courses (Responsible Coaching and Responsible Sport Parenting) and take a 10-question review quiz. Every completed quiz is worth one point. The organizations that earn the most points at the end of the grant period, in this case November 30th, in each of the three divisions will earn one of the 20 grants. Youth sports organizations are competing for one of 14 $2,500 grants in two divisions, large and small, based upon the number of players. The more people each registered organization gets to complete the courses, the greater its chances of winning.

Complete details on the grants as well as the qualifying self-paced courses are available through the official program website at ResponsibleSports.com. To show your support, visit ResponsibleSports.com/Grant.

Team PRIDE, Inc., is dedicated to helping low-income children develop the values and confidence needed to avoid criminal behavior and to succeed in school and beyond. Team PRIDE will enable children involved in delinquency cases, abuse or neglect proceedings and special education to participate in “Karate for Kids” programs that offer mentorship and teach leadership skills and goal-setting to help them develop PRIDE (perseverance, respect, integrity, discipline, excellence) in themselves and in their lives.

Liberty Mutual Insurance (www.libertymutual.com) is a leading multi-line insurer in the U.S. whose largest line of business is personal auto based on 2006 direct written premium. A top ten provider of auto and home insurance to individuals, Liberty Mutual is an industry leader in affinity partnerships, offering its personal lines products to employees and members of more than 10,000 companies, credit unions, and alumni and profes­sional associations. Liberty Mutual Insurance Group ranks 86th on the Fortune 500 list of largest corporations in the United States. The company, headquartered in Boston, Mass., employs over 45,000 people in more than 900 offices throughout the world.

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