The Southwestern Youth Association (SYA) Little League is a chartered franchise of Little League Baseball, Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Little League is the only organized sports program to be independently operated and sustained by the sponsorship of its own foundation.  Little League was founded to assist youth in developing qualities of citizenship, discipline, teamwork and physical well-being, with proper guidance and exemplary leadership. It is designed to provide an outlet of healthful activity and training under good leadership in the atmosphere of wholesome community participation. It strives to inspire youth and to enrich their lives towards the day when they must take their places in society. It establishes for them the basics of teamwork and fair play.

Little League was founded in Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 1939. It is the largest organized youth sports program in the world. Little League operates under charter of Federal Incorporation granted under a bill signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in July 1964.

The current SYA charter has been in effect since 1978.  Prior to 1978, SYA played both Little League and independent baseball. Before the start of the 1978 season it was decided by the Board of Directors of SYA to rejoin the national organization. It has been and always will be the objective of SYA to firmly implant in the youth of our community the ideals of good sportsmanship, honesty, loyalty, courage and respect for authority.

SYA currently holds three charters with Little League across the Centreville, Clifton, and Fairfax, Virginia area. The three chartered Leagues are the East, West and Central. It is mandatory that every youth participating in the SYA Little League program live within the boundaries or be covered by a waiver.  The geographical boundaries for each league can be found here.

League Boundaries are reviewed annually to ensure compliance with Little League Regulations.

SYA East Little League Boundary Map

SYA Central Little League Boundary Map

SYA West Little League Boundary Map

SYA Little League Programs

Instructional Level

Tee Ball and Coach Pitch Divisions are for baseball age players 5-7 years old. This level of play is dedicated to teaching the basics of baseball while emphasizing the fun aspects of playing team sports. All players play in the field and bat in every inning.

The purpose of the Minor League Program is to provide training and instruction for those players who by reason of age and other factors do not qualify for selection in the Major League. SYA offers three levels of Minor League baseball. They include:

Single A (A) which is Machine Pitch for baseball age 7 and 8 year old players. There may be two levels, a minors and majors, depending on the number of registrations.

Double A (AA) which is Introduction to Player Pitch for baseball age 9 and 10 year old players and 8 year old players with advanced skills.  Participants must tryout for AA and are subject to a draft for placement.  Only those 8 year olds deemed advanced enough to play in AA will be drafted into AA.

Triple A (AAA) which is for baseball age 8 through 11 year old players. Participants must tryout and are subject to a draft for placement.

Major League Level

The Major League program is for baseball age players ages 9 through 12 years old. On the basis of tryouts, managers will rate the players and then select teams using a draft system. All 12 year olds will be drafted into Major League, although parents may opt their son/daughter out of Majors for safety reasons.

Challenger League

SYA has joined with the Chantilly Youth Association (CYA) to offer the Sully Challenger Baseball, a division of Little League Baseball for mentally and physically challenged boys and girls ages 5 through 18. Additional details of the program will be provided upon request of the Board of Directors.

Fall Season

The Fall season will essentially mirror the organization of the Spring season noted above and is considered primarily an instructional program on all levels. The League will be comprised of an Advanced Player pitch program for Spring Majors veterans and AAA All Stars, an Intermediate Player pitch level for all Spring AAA and advanced AA players, and an Introductory Player Pitch Level for the remaining AA players and all Spring A level players. There will be only one Machine Pitch Level in the fall and the Coach Pitch and Tee Ball programs are essentially the same as in the spring.  Any adjustments to League Organization will depend on total children registered for each playing level.