Christine Ingebritsen’s commitment to coaching is no secret amongst Villa soccer fans. But today, University Week, a publication from the University of Washington, shared Christine’s story with their readership in a Faculty Profile that compared her passion and commitment on the Villa Soccer field to her professional endeavors. Please take a moment to read about Christine, a Villa Parent, Trustee, Soccer Coach, and very respected member of our Community.

Read UWeek Article

Field Day 2010

Who: The Villa community, students Grades K-7.

What: FIELD DAY!  This year, we will be having a fun run/walk followed by game play time.   Follow the seventh grade leaders to complete the course!

Where: A run/walk route around the entire Villa campus, starting on the soccer field and ending on the playground.

When: June 17^th.  9am-11am.

Kindergarten-2^nd grade running and playing from 9-10

3^rd-6^th grade running and playing from 10-11

Why: To celebrate the end of a great school year!  What’s better than exercise, games and time with friends?!?

For student safety, the campus will be closed to vehicle traffic from 9:00-11:00am.

This year we are changing things up a bit for Field Day.  In previous years, Field Day has consisted of a series of games for teams of students to navigate, while competing in mixed grade level teams with their peers.  This year, the first activity of the day for Field Day participants will be a Fun Run.  The course takes 12-15 minutes to walk, traversing many of Villa’s most treasured locations.   Having all students, faculty and staff participate in the Fun Run allows Villa students to observe our community participating in a healthy, physical activity.  The walk/run will end on the Villa playground where a bouncy house obstacle course, face painting and games await those who complete the course.  Students will be given more freedom than in previous years and will have the opportunity to visit each game in their own time.  In order to ensure students have an opportunity to access all the games and experience success while playing, Field Day will occur in two sessions, one for Grades Kindergarten-2, and one for Grades 3-6.

Field Day is the first opportunity for seventh grade students to serve as the leaders of our school.  Traditionally, seventh grade students forgo playing, and become the directors of the day’s events.  This change in roles is an important one for our upcoming eighth grade class, and it is a real pleasure to see them act in such responsible roles helping the younger students.  Seventh grade students will set up large alphabet signs along the running course for participants to follow. They will also be in charge of organizing the games, face painting and managing student flow.

We look forward to a great end of the year.

Spring is on the way and so is the first Villa Academy Ultimate game.  Thanks to Roger Crafts, a Fall 2009 addition to the Middle School faculty, Ultimate Frisbee has returned to campus. Practice is already underway and the season kicks off this Friday, March 19^th at Magnuson Park.

The object of the game is to score points by passing to a teammate in the opposing end zone, as in Rugby or Football.  Players throw a disc rather than a ball, and, like Basketball, players may not run while holding the disc.

An 8^th grade group first approached Mr. Crafts with the idea of revitalizing an Ultimate team.  Many of these students had played in 4^th or 5^th grade and wanted to see the team revived.  Mr. Crafts was the right person to ask!

In his short time at Villa, Mr. Crafts has already fostered a spirit of student-led initiatives as the advisor of Villa’s “Green Team”.  He brings the same spirit, along with an impressive athletic background, to the new Ultimate team.

Mr. Crafts competed on a nationally ranked Ultimate team at Carleton College. Since college, he has won three Club National Championships with the Seattle Sockeye men’s team and played in two World Tournaments. Although he says he has retired from competitive play, Mr. Craft now coaches and is the co-director of the DiscNorthwest Seattle Youth Ultimate Camps.

He was pleased with the students’ suggestion of starting an Ultimate team and admits, “I was planning to create a program next year, but they beat me to it.”

Mr. Crafts believes that “Ultimate is an ideal sport for middle school students . . . the self-officiated nature [of the game] goes way beyond typical sports in teaching teamwork, respect, and sportsmanship.”

This seems to be true. Already, students have taken the reigns on a project to design their own team t-shirts. Noah C. ‘10 designed the team logo and Jack T. ‘10 illustrated the final drawing.

Villa has two teams this year – one 7^th / 8^th grade team and one 6^th grade team. An overlap with the volleyball schedule made recruiting enough girls for a separate team difficult. So this year both teams are co-ed.

Support your school and its budding Ultimate team at their upcoming games.

Click here for the schedule.

Thank you to everyone who showed up to support the 7th grade boys championship basketball game!

Click here to see highlights of the championship game

2010 Poker Showdown Update: Paula H. was crowned champion of this year’s event!  Over 50 players, guests, and generous donors came together and raised over $7,200 for the CYO program.  This money will be used to fund uniforms, new equipment and scholarships. Thank you! See you all next year!

Dorian Studios will take sports and clubs photos for our yearbook on Tuesday, February 23. Please do not schedule appointments for this day. This is an important day for students; we hate to have anyone miss their opportunity to be in their club or team photo.

Proceeds benefit the Villa Academy CYO Athletic Program.
Please join us on Friday evening, January 29 for Villa’s Fourth Annual Villa Poker Showdown. The evening will offer great food and drink, an opportunity to socialize with the Villa community, and the chance to participate in the Fourth Annual Villa Poker Showdown!

The event is open to everyone in the Villa community, whether you’d like to play or watch the action from the sidelines. To participate, click HERE for a registration form. Participation is limited so sign up today!

What: Fourth Annual Villa Poker Showdown
When: Friday, January 29th
6:00 p.m. Check-in/6:30 Tournament play begins
Cost: $120 to play OR
$25 to attend and watch the action!
Where: Villa Academy Parlor

Congratulations to our 6th Grade Girls basketball team who
won the CYO Championship this year. It was a great
accomplishment for these Villa students who worked very
hard under coaches Joe Lynam and Bob Caldwell. Great Job!