The Catholic Youth Ministry (CYM) Sports program of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington exists to set roots as future disciples of Jesus Christ through the ministry of athletics. This provisional handbook, developed through a collaborative process during the 2024-2025 academic years and implemented on August 1, 2025, embodies that idea. It incorporates feedback from prior versions, input from athletes, families, coaches, and administrators, roundtable discussions, and comprehensive research. Its purpose is to provide long-term health and preservation of Catholic Youth Organization Inc.
This handbook establishes the minimum standards for by-laws, policies, and sports-specific rules governing all CYM-sanctioned athletic activities. These standards ensure consistency, safety, fairness, discipline, and alignment with our Catholic values across every parish and school program in the Diocese.
The CYM Sports office sets minimum expectations to safeguard our youth and promote unity in program; it does not direct, review, or accept liability for decisions or implementations that go beyond these minimum standards. Affiliated parish and school programs retain the authority to adopt policies that are more comprehensive or restrictive than the minimum requirements contained in this handbook. Such local policies and any operational decisions made by individual programs, including but not limited scheduling, eligibility determinations, conduct enforcement, or facility-specific rules, are the sole responsibility of the local parish, school, or program leadership. In such cases, CYM Representatives may review for alignment with the mission of Catholic Youth Organization Inc.
This provisional handbook applies to all boys’ and girls’ sports programming under the auspices of CYM Sports within the Diocese of Wilmington. It binds all participants, coaches, administrators, parents and guardians, spectators, and other affiliated members to the mission, vision, and purpose of the program. Where this handbook, local policies, or the rules of external governing bodies (NFHS, AAU, U.S Youth Soccer, etc.) intersect, the most protective applicable shall control, subject to official clarification by the CYM Sports Office.