Youth and Professional Sports
Teenagers are a major focus of the community. AYSO soccer, Club Soccer such as Apex Soccer Club, Newbury Park Soccer Club and Conejo Valley United, Conejo Youth Basketball Association, also known as CYBA, Conejo Valley Thunder Wrestling, Pop Warner football, Little League baseball, CYFFA flag football, girls' softball, organized swim team leagues, ice hockey, and even organized lacrosse and field hockey involve hundreds and even thousands of participants and their parents year in and year out.
In August 1991, a team from Thousand Oaks Little League became the first Little League team in Ventura County to win a World Championship, winning the Championship game 20-3. In 1996, a Senior Division (ages 14–16) Thousand Oaks Little League team won a National Championship. Two years later in 1998, a Big League Division (ages 17–18) Conejo Valley Little League team won a World Championship, defeating a Venezuelan Team 10-9 and going 26-1 in tournament play. In 2006, Thousand Oaks won the World Championship in the Big League Division(ages 16–18) of Little League by defeating a team from Puerto Rico 10-0. The Thousand Oaks Big League team were also World Series runner-ups in 2003 and 2005. In 2007, they were United States runner-up. In 2009, they won the United States Championship and appeared on prime time on ESPN. In the summer of 2004, the Little League National Championship team hailed from Thousand Oaks. The Conejo Valley East team of 11 and 12-year-olds went 22-0 in local, regional, and World Series tournaments play claiming the national title at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania before losing in the international title game to the team from Curaçao, Caribbean.
Conejo Simi Swim Club is the oldest (est. 1974) and most successful youth swim program in the area.
In professional sports, the city is home to the Sherwood Country Club, a world-class golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus. The annual Chevron World Challenge golf tournament hosted by Tiger Woods takes place at the course.
Ventura County Fusion, a minor league soccer team playing in the USL Premier Development League, while based in nearby Ventura, has held home games at Newbury Park High School in Newbury Park.
In the 1970s, California Lutheran University (CLU) served as the training camp location for the Dallas Cowboys. The CLU football practice field used by the Cowboys as well as the CLU Kingsmen football team was replaced by a large sports complex in 2006. The Cowboys Clubhouse in Thousand Oaks still stands across from the complex, and is currently a family residence.
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Famous quotes containing the words youth and, youth, professional and/or sports:
“Now the bright morning star, day’s harbinger,
Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her
The flow’ry May, who from her green lap throws
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Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire
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Woods and groves are of thy dressing,
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“The youth of an art is, like the youth of anything else, its most interesting period. When it has come to the knowledge of good and evil it is stronger, but we care less about it.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
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“In the past, it seemed to make sense for a sportswriter on sabbatical from the playpen to attend the quadrennial hawgkilling when Presidential candidates are chosen, to observe and report upon politicians at play. After all, national conventions are games of a sort, and sports offers few spectacles richer in low comedy.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)