Our Lady of Grace Athletic Association  Gil Hodges Little League

About Us

            The organization was founded by a group of parishioners from Our Lady of Grace R.C. Church in 1956 and has been a continuous and very successful youth sports organization for the past fifty years without interruption.  In its’ early days, we were often referred to as that “little church league”, but have through the years and with the hard work of its members, developed a truly quality youth organization.  We provide year round sports for boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 18.

            During the seventies and eighties, our involvement in “sandlot” baseball and softball, and “intramural” Baseball and softball programs, as well as similar divisions in Basketball, has allowed us to become one of the larger youth programs in the City of New York, with over 1,000 active participants.

             The Gil Hodges Little League was another long-time Brooklyn sandlot organization started in 1955 as the South Highway Little League.  Subsequently it was renamed after the most famous of Brooklyn Dodgers, our very own Gil Hodges.

             In 1992, the Gravesend/Our Lady of Grace Athletic Associations acquired the Gil Hodges Little League Charter, and its’ fields.  We also acquired the charter to the original “Gravesend Youth Center”, thus becoming the Gravesend Athletic Associations.

            Many of our coaches and Executive Board members have spent forty or more years in volunteer service to this community.  In fact, some of us even played ball for the Gravesend Youth Center or Grace or The Gil Hodges Little League in our much younger years.  That long  lived dedication has provided the continuity necessary to make this kind of volunteer organization work as well as it has.

GOALS:

            The purpose of our Organization is to provide a wholesome atmosphere where our youth can grow in their talents and use their leadership abilities to the fullest.  We would like to see each youth that we serve succeed as a person, as a family member and as a citizen who is involved in his or her community.  This involves the individual youth seeing themselves in a good light and liking what they see.  We incorporate such ideas as self-worth of the individual and the idea that we have to treat everyone as persons who are in need of our encouragement and respect.  We also incorporate other values, such as team spirit and sportsmanship in their understanding of themselves and their world.

            We are not interested in sports for the sake of sports itself, but rather of sports leading to the maturity and the total independence of the youth that we serve.  We therefore are very conscious of what happens to the youth.

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* If you are interested in joining this great organization as a coach/volunteer, or if you have a young family member interested in playing baseball/softball or basketball then simply email us at generalinfo@olgaa.com or visit our facilities page for our location and phone numbers to contact us anytime....

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OUR DOOR IS ALWAYS OPEN!!!