Up2Us Sports Celebrates National Coaches Day

Up2Us Sports Celebrates National Coaches Day

Up2Us Sports is proud to celebrate coaches today, and every day. Over the past six years, we have provided 16,000 coaches and youth sport administrators with the training they need to make a lasting impact. We believe that a trained coach can help youth in under-resourced communities succeed on and off the field.

Up2Us Sports From the Very Beginning

Up2Us Sports From the Very Beginning

Though it’s roots begin in the late 1980’s after Paul Caccamo graduated from Georgetown, Up2Us Sports didn’t begin to take shape until 2008. To get the full scope of our origin story, we had one of our coaches interview Paul for a StoryCorps segment on the history of Up2Us Sports and where he sees the organization going in the future.

Ambassador Kim Vandenberg Hosts Swim Clinic for New Orleans Youth

Ambassador Kim Vandenberg Hosts Swim Clinic for New Orleans Youth

Up2Us Sports athlete ambassador Kim Vandenberg hosted a swim clinic for 30 girls from long-standing partner ReNew Schaumburg Elementary. The school, in partnership with The New Orleans Recreation Development (NORD) Commission, the American Red Cross and Up2Us Sports, launched their swim program in advance of the 2017-2018 school year. Up2Us Sports placed two coaches in the program to teach students swim skills and life skills throughout the school year.

Coach Hemon: Using Soccer to Help Young Refugees

Coach Hemon: Using Soccer to Help Young Refugees

If you know Hemon, working anywhere other than Baltimore was never an option; he sees far too much of himself in these children to go elsewhere.  Hemon was born in a refugee camp in Nepal to Bhutanese parents. In 2008, he arrived in Baltimore as a twelve-year-old who couldn’t speak English, but was determined to succeed in his new country.

Up2Us Sports Receives $2.5 Million in National and State AmeriCorps Funding

Up2Us Sports Receives $2.5 Million in National and State AmeriCorps Funding

Through Up2Us Sports’ national coaching program, 350 AmeriCorps members will be trained to coach and mentor low-­income youth to make better decisions, stay healthy, and reach their potential, through the power of sports. The $2.5 million in grants from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) will support AmeriCorps members nationally with added support in California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana and Pennsylvania.

Up2Us Sports and Member Organizations Welcome New AmeriCorps VISTAs

Up2Us Sports and Member Organizations Welcome New AmeriCorps VISTAs

Please join us in welcoming the AmeriCorps VISTAs who will be serving at Up2Us Sports and its member organizations for the 2017-2018 program year. VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) is a national service program that utilizes the skills, talents and passion of more than 7,000 Americans annually to support community efforts to overcome poverty.

Up2Us Sports Ambassador AJ Ramos Donates 200 Tickets to Up2Us Sports Coaches

Up2Us Sports Ambassador AJ Ramos Donates 200 Tickets to Up2Us Sports Coaches

Up2Us Sports coaches and their families got to experience a Miami Marlins game in person this past Friday thanks to Up2Us Sports Ambassador AJ Ramos.  The Marlins closer generously donated 40 tickets for the coaches and their families for a night at Marlins Park.

Sarbjit Singh on Overcoming Challenges of All Types

Sarbjit Singh on Overcoming Challenges of All Types

In the past seven years, I have highlighted in the Sports Doing Good newsletter and blog more than 4,000 stories of the “good.” This has included everything from on-the-field performances, work by non-profits, team and league programs reaching out to their fan bases, and of course, people overcoming challenges in their lives, big and small, to accomplish something important in their life. For this last category of stories, it is fair to think when overcoming “challenges,” we are talking about those physical in nature. Those are the ones that are the most obvious – someone’s physical challenge – is usually very easy to see. But, of course, it is not all about the physical.

Marnisha Mintlow Has Been a Marine, a Teacher and Now as an Up2Us Sports coach, She Is ‘Super’

Marnisha Mintlow Has Been a Marine, a Teacher and Now as an Up2Us Sports coach, She Is ‘Super’

To the kids she coaches Marnisha goes exclusively by ‘Coach Super.’ The moniker doubling as a nickname and the perfect embodiment of her life and commitment to young people. Hearing Marnisha’s story, her nickname becomes less surprising. Born and raised in Dayton, Ohio she grew up in a religious family where both of her parents worked, she went to school, played little league baseball and other sports here and there.