The Southwestern Youth Association (SYA) was established in November of 1973 with 350 participants. The purpose of SYA is to provide safe, healthy, and fun recreational competitive sports activities for the youth of Southwestern Fairfax County, regardless of their financial status or athletic ability. Southwestern Youth Association was started with a $1,500 donation from the founder, Carl Mullins. The league began with a spring Soccer program made up of 10 teams. This was followed by baseball with 9 teams and a girls’ softball league with 8 teams. Football followed soon after in the fall.
Today, Southwestern Youth Association serves over 13,000 children ages 4-19, and over 5,000 families in Centreville and Clifton, Virginia as well as some surrounding locations. SYA is a non-profit program, with the operations and daily affairs of the organization executed by an all-volunteer Board of Directors. They are dedicated to providing the children of Southwestern Fairfax County with a safe and positive environment through sports competition.