Soccer

National Poetry Month: Coaches Using Sports & Poetry to Make an Impact

National Poetry Month: Coaches Using Sports & Poetry to Make an Impact

In celebration of National Poetry Month, we spoke with with some of our Up2Us Coaches about how they use poetry and sport to inspire the next generation of poet-athletes and what some of their favorite aspects to coach in both poetry and sport are.

[WATCH] Young Voices Series, Episode 4: Philly Youth Speak Out

[WATCH] Young Voices Series, Episode 4: Philly Youth Speak Out

Up2Us Sports' Young Voices Series is a series of one-hour virtual events in collaboration with their partner organizations, that give youth an opportunity to speak about the issues that affect them and their communities most.

How Libbie is Changing the Game

How Libbie is Changing the Game

Earlier this year, Libbie never expected to be home in the United States serving as an Up2Us Sports AmeriCorps Summer VISTA. She was working in Kenya but had to return due to COVID-19. Read more about Libbie’s journey.

My Year as an Up2Us Coach with SCORES

My Year as an Up2Us Coach with SCORES

As my service term with AmeriCorps and Up2Us Sports comes to a close, I can only recall how invigorating and inspiring the Coaches Training in California was. Uncertain of what to expect and unsure if I could meet the expectations of a SBYD Coach, I couldn’t have anticipated how influential this training would be on my career as a coach and my personal growth. 

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.

Coaching at Soccer Without Borders Helped Patrick Move Forward

Coaching at Soccer Without Borders Helped Patrick Move Forward

Patrick credits ROTC as the biggest influence in his life and he aspires to pass on the values it instilled in him to the kids he is now coaching, who have become his biggest inspiration. The experience - both as a volunteer and now as a full-time coach - has also helped Patrick put things into perspective and move on from the loss of his dream.

Striving for Service, Rafael Became A Coach

Coach Rafael has had a sense of service for as long as he can remember. Growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, Rafael Padilla was most interested by artistic and creative pursuits. He was an avid writer and performed in a variety of theatre performances. Though he grew up in what he referred to as a “tough neighborhood,” he had positive creative outlets and strong adult role models that didn’t allow him to stray from his goals.

One of his goals, for as long as he could remember, was to join the United States military. Not only did he want to serve, he was adamant about serving on the front lines as an Army Ranger, the elite unit of the Army.

When he was 17, before he had even graduated high school, Rafael signed up for the Delayed Enlistment Program with the Army, setting him on the path to fulfill his internal call to service as soon as he graduated from high school. After clearing an initial medical hurdle that nearly derailed his plans, Rafael was sent to Fort Benning in Georgia to begin months of grueling training to become a U.S. Army Ranger.

soccer-field

After undergoing the physically challenging and mentally exhaustive training, Rafael was among about 30 individuals out of a class of 170 to successfully complete the program. He was deployed overseas four times during his time in the Army, once to Iraq and three times to Afghanistan. Rafael recounted his deployments, “it was pretty intense. We would go out every other night and they were very high impact missions, going out in the middle of the night to capture Taliban or Al Qaeda commanders.”  

After four and a half years, Rafael left the Army knowing that he had plans outside of the battlefield. Though he left the Army, Rafael felt like he never fully transitioned from the mindset that he had while enlisted. This is because before enlisting and throughout his years in the military, Rafael has had an undeniable dedication to service. While the army gave him a mission, now that he was once again a civilian he needed to find a new mission. “I realized getting out of the military, I had cultivated this mentality where I don’t want to do anything unless it has some sort of goals or purpose,” he said.

In search of this purpose, he briefly returned to Arizona, attending a local community college before moving to Los Angeles to further pursue his education and pinpoint his next professional challenge. He attended Santa Monica College before earning his degree, in creative writing, from Cal State Northridge. Shortly before graduating he learned about the Up2Us Sports Operation Coach program and recognized how strong a fit it was. “I immediately clicked with what the mission is for Operation Coach,” he said. “I realized that if I have a job or if I am going to be doing anything, I really want to do something where I am doing some sort of good and I am impacting something that makes me feel better and is helping out society.”

He found what he was looking for in Operation Coach and in August 2016, began coaching at Brotherhood Crusade, a Los Angeles based non-profit organization that attempts to improve the quality of life of individuals through a range of programs that include focuses on education, mentorship, and sports.

As a soccer coach, Rafael has tapped into his vast leadership knowledge and experience. While he was still in the army, Rafael and his unit were put through seven months of training between deployments. In addition to the physical and mental rigor of training, Rafael underwent intense leadership training that helped him take abstract ideas about leadership and turn them into the practical skills and confidence to lead. He has now supplemented this unique and invaluable leadership experience with the Up2Us Sports Coach Training. This training provides 35 hours of intensive training in positive youth development and trauma-sensitive tactics that coaches can use to develop trust-based relationships with their youth. In describing the training, Rafael spoke about the relationships he made and how the strategies he learned have helped him as a coach, “it equipped me with a wider set of tools to deal with kids if they are upset or angry.”

With so many tools at his disposal, Rafael works passionately everyday to improve the lives of the kids he works with and be the positive role model that was so important to his growth. “I expect myself to give the kids the hand that they need to succeed, as opposed to putting unnecessary pressure on people I go in there and try to be one among them, somebody they can lean on who will push them forward,” he said.

Rafael will continue to serve as a coach, mentor, and role model with Up2Us Sports through August 2017. All the while gaining experience working with kids as he prepares for his next challenge - becoming a teacher.