NYC Youth Get Fit With Ambassador Adam Rosante

To celebrate National Nutrition Month, Up2Us Sports hosted Get Fit with Adam Rosante this past Saturday for the youth of Henry Street Settlement, an Up2Us Sports member organization. Celebrity fitness trainer, author and Up2Us Sports Ambassador Adam Rosante guided the youth through a host of fun activities and spoke to them about the importance of establishing healthy eating habits early in life. The kids were led through three rounds of various, equipment-free exercises where they were challenged to beat their own score from the previous round. By the end, nearly 100% of the kids had improved their scores in each category, proving that hard work and persistence does pay off. With less than half of the nation’s children engaging in the recommended 60 minutes of moderate physical activity per day, Adam showed this group of children how simple, fun and rewarding it can be to get off the couch and get active. Adam’s first book was released on March 17, and currently sits atop Amazon’s Hot New Releases. Get your own copy of The 30 Second Body: Eat Clean, Train Dirty & Live Hard on AmazonSmile, while also supporting Up2Us Sports.

Boston Training: Trauma Sensitive Coaching & Sports-Based Youth Development

Lou BergholzEdgework Consulting - Edgework has worked on the frontlines of sports-based youth development and trauma-sensitive curriculum and program design for more than 15 years. We specifically engage in projects and communities where access to clinical care can be limited, and so our work has taken us across the United States and to parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Through our research, project work, and collaborations with other experts, we built a comprehensive approach to using sports to help children heal from traumatic experiences. Trauma-Sensitive Coaching is designed for frontline sports-based youth development coaches to build the kind of athletic programs that help young people develop vital skills that can buffer them from the ongoing effects of an adverse experience.

There is overwhelming research on the positive role that a caring adult plays in the lives of all children.  Too often, for children affected by trauma, their “caring adult system” is disrupted and disorganized and so the role of a trusted, caring adult becomes exponentially more important.

To share what we have learned and created, we are very excited for our next collaboration: in partnership with Up2Us, we will present a special spring learning series on Trauma-Sensitive Coaching called the "Boston Trauma Series". The workshops will provide sports-based youth development coaches, program directors and leadership with foundational knowledge about the impact of trauma on young people, as well as introduce a proven set of tools and approaches to increase support for young people affected by trauma. We hope you will join us for an engaging, informative and practical workshop experience. Network with like-minded individuals and organizations who are invested in using sport to promote positive youth development, and leave with tools and skills you can apply immediately to your coaching practice.

Up2Us Salutes The Operation Coach Alpha Class For a Job Well Done

Edwin S. Vasco GonzálezProgram Manager, Operation Coach United States Marine Corps - In the summer of 2014, Up2Us launched Operation Coach, an innovative program that provides returning, post-9/11 veterans the opportunity to not only gain employment as coach-mentors, but to continue to serve as every day heroes to thousands of youth in Miami-Dade County.  The eight men and women who made up the inaugural Operation Coach class just completed their coaching term and I’d like to thank each and every one of them for their extraordinary service.  These men and women  were selected out of over one hundred applicants because they showed the motivation to better the lives of others and the determination to make a positive impact in their communities.  We asked these eight Veterans to “serve” once again. Only this time, we asked them to step out of their comfort zone—this time they would be  serving  youth in some of the poorest neighborhoods in America, using the power of sports and coaching.

From the first day of training,  the coaches showed constant progress.  Alvaro, Jay, Kleiton, Michael, Miguel, Randy, Roya, and Tanya grew exponentially over the course of their coaching term; not only as coaches, but also as valuable members of their communities. It was really rewarding to see them  realize the power they had to create a positive impact on their communities—they came together as a unit and showed themselves to be what I already knew they were--the cream of the crop.

I am extremely proud of the difference they have made. Not only in the lives of the children they worked with, but also the communities they served . They made people take notice, demonstrating that veterans are not the PTSD crew, but talented and caring professionals willing and able to effect positive change. The Operation Coach team showed that we veterans are committed, that we are fighters, and that any task we set out to do will be completed at the  highest level—because at the end of the day, nothing but our best effort is acceptable.

I could write a thousand words thanking each coach and describing how special  every single one of them  is, but I will keep it short.

Alvaro: You were profoundly involved in the lives of your fighters.

Jay: You showed a great ability to connect with your youth and prepare them for real-life situations, which immediately affected your kids because they are already young adults facing tough situations.

Kleiton: Happiness, happiness, happiness. You put smiles on kids’ faces everyday just by being there.

Michael: Your powerful relationships caused a positive turnaround in your community and your kids.

Miguel: Every day, you were doing something in your community to affect people in a positive way.

Randy: You helped a young Marine-to-be find himself as a good young man.

Roya: You were adaptable. You learned on the fly and your organization loved you for it.

Tanya: You had a powerful desire to show your girls a better path.

I hope  you all know how much I care for each and every one of you. I am honored to consider you my friends, and I hope you know that no matter what, you will always have me here to help you in whatever way I can.

Operation Coach Alpha Class, I, and everyone on the Up2Us team, commend you for a job well done.

On behalf of Operation Coach Alpha Class I would like to finish by saying “Mission Accomplished. Awaiting further orders”

Up2Us Training in Memphis: Using SBYD as a vehicle for success

Casey HollidayMemphis Grizzlies Foundation

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In the hit NBC series Friday Night Lights, Coach Taylor was the quintessential coach-mentor: strict and moral, but fair and dedicated, a strong and level-headed mentor figure for his kids, many of whom lacked guidelines. Parents have probably longed for someone like Coach Taylor, someone who wasn’t just a coach, but a teacher, mentor and leader.

The Memphis Grizzlies Foundation partnership with Up2Us, the leading organization promoting and training coaches in sports-based youth development (SBYD), is advancing sports as a tool to address the critical social issues facing our youth. SBYD focuses on using sports as a solution to youth and community problems by providing coaches with the necessary training and support to coach kids not only in sports skill building, but also in character skill building. Coaches learn how to congratulate successes while encouraging constant growth, create safe spaces that teach emotional and physical safety, and foster the social support of a team.

Starting this year, all GrizzFIT coaches will be required to complete SBYD training through Up2Us. The coach’s role is to leverage sports to build strong and meaningful relationships with young people, helping to prepare them for success in college, career and life, and the training will further their commitment and development to mentor effectively. GrizzFIT promotes the benefits of a healthy lifestyle by encouraging people to make nutritious food choices, to exercise regularly and to have fun doing it. Within the GrizzFIT platform lies the TEAM UP Youth Sports Partnership, a coalition of community organizations that use sport as a catalyst for youth development. Fully embodying the coach’s changing role, partnership organizations Memphis Athletic Ministries (MAM), Streets Ministries and Grizzlies Prep are a part of a dedicated force committed to making SBYD training mandatory for coaches.

“They (Up2Us) treat character and leadership and resilience and all the different components that go into life and personality as much a skill as they do the sport,” said Joel Katz, manager of the TEAM UP Youth Sports Partnership. “Winning is important, and the training will not say it isn’t, because it is. But it’s understanding how to win, it’s understanding what it takes to win, it’s getting kids to believe in the process.”

Katz sees the required training as a way to redefine the coach’s typical role, and his enthusiasm for the possibilities is infectious. GrizzFIT is deep in many communities, and the training is seen as a way to bridge youth sports and mentoring. Many times, recreational coaches are volunteers and don’t have any formal training or professional development. The SBYD training helps demonstrate how coaches can also be mentors, utilizing the special relationship between coaches and kids to reach past sports skills and into life skills. In a program like GrizzFIT, where many participants may not have access to positive role models, the training helps coaches fill a void.

Coaches often come out of training with a new energy and appreciation of coaching. By learning new coaching techniques that can be directly applied to their teams, they become more confident in their own abilities, a confidence that is then directed to the kids. Sports can be a catalyst for driving leadership development, and with SBYD training, coaches will understand how to draw out, expand and ultimately create future community leaders.

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This piece was originally published on the Memphis Grizzlies Foundation blog on 1/29/15 under the title, The Coach's Changing Role: Using sports-based youth development as a vehicle for success.

U.S. Department of Justice Funds Up2Us Sports Coaches for Another Year of Decreased Youth Violence

Up2Us Sports was awarded, for the second time, a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). The funds will be used to launch the Multi-State Coach Mentoring Initiative, which will place 65 coach-mentors in 12 major cities to support sports-based youth development programs that are designed to prevent youth violence.

The first $1 million grant from OJJDP was awarded to help reduce youth violence in low-income, disadvantaged neighborhoods. Up2Us used these funds to place coach-mentors in 12 cities at 25 host sites from March 2013 through March 2014.

In one year the coach-mentors made a big impact:

• 66 coach-mentors served over 4,800 youth;
• Less than 1% of program youth committed a delinquent offense;
• 40% of youth reported an increase in physical activity;
• 86% of coaches reported that their programs provided more opportunities for youth to be physically active than they would otherwise have had.

Additionally, these youth were measured on a set of eight attributes, called High Impact Attributes (HIAs), such as discipline and positive identity, which are developed through sport and have been linked with various positive life outcomes. At the end of the program, 88% of youth reported competency on the HIAs, with 43% of youth increasing this competency during program participation.

The new cohort of OJJDP-funded coach-mentors will be trained at Up2Us Sports’ four-day National Coach Training Institute in Chicago from Feb. 28 through March 3.

What Youth Sports Can Do For the Mentoring Movement

Did you know, sports could triple the number of mentors in this country? That’s because coaches are the largest untapped source of mentoring in the nation. For one reason, many coaches still see themselves as just that, “coaches” and not as “mentors”. They view their primary goal as teaching their players athletic skills and strategies for winning their game; however, the better coaches embrace their role as mentors. They incorporate techniques for building positive team cultures, strong relationships among players, and life skills counseling into their practices and games. It’s time that we demand this “mentoring" from all coaches. The results will not only be more successful athletes but better students as well.

Literature is increasingly pointing to the lack of character development education among youth as a contributing factor to school dropout rates, youth violence and other negative social behaviors. Coaches are in a unique position to fill the gap in character education. This is because coaches are uniquely able to engender trust among youth, even those youth who have learned not to readily trust adults and authority figures. Coach-mentors can use this trust to provide young people guidance and advice, tackling the difficult decisions of adolescence. Coach-mentors can make their practices an alternative “space", outside of the school and the home, where young people feel more confident testing themselves mentally and physically without fear of judgment or failure. Coach-mentors help their teams develop values like leadership, teamwork, discipline, stick-to-itiveness, and resiliency. These values directly translate to success in the classroom and the community.

But this transition from “coach” to “mentor” will not happen naturally. It will take training to achieve the fullest potential of the estimated 2-3 million coaches in this country.   Up2Us Sports is beginning a national effort to provide this training and certify coaches in sports-based youth development (SBYD).

SBYD is the merging of athletics and mentoring into an intentional methodology for fostering positive child development. As parents wake up to the examples of poor coaching and the negative impact it has on their sons and daughters, parents should demand SBYD training be integrated into all coach licensing. Schools should require that athletic directors and coaches be SBYD certified so that their coaching reinforces their overall drive for educational excellence.

One day, all coaches should be able to say, “I am a coach, and I am a mentor”. That will be the day several million more adults have joined the mentoring movement to ensure that all American youth have safe and successful pathways to adulthood.

Paul Caccamo Founder & CEO Up2Us Sports

Apply to Bring an AmeriCorps VISTA to Your Organization!

For 50 years, the AmeriCorps VISTA program has been at the forefront of building capacity of communities to fight poverty. VISTA members devote a year of their lives to challenge poverty’s root causes. The goal of the Up2Us VISTA program is to build the capacity of Up2Us member organizations who run high-quality sports-based youth development programming in under-served communities. We are proud to have placed over 120 VISTAs at 40 Up2Us member organizations over the past five years. In 2014 alone, the 30 Up2Us VISTA members helped their host site organizations 6.2 million in cash and in-kind donations. Their combined efforts allowed Up2Us host sites to serve nearly 150,000 new participants.

We would like to invite our member organizations to apply to host a 2015-2016 VISTA. The application can be found here.

For more information, please join us for the VISTA Program Overview/RFP Assistance on Tuesday, February 3rd at 3pm EST. Please join us to learn more about how hosting an Up2Us VISTA member can build the capacity of your program! You can register by emailing Leah.

Up2Us on National Mentoring Month

In 1938, more than 200 Harvard students (all men at the time) joined a research study that lasted for the next 75 years. The point of the project was to analyze how the things in our lives—work, family, friends, money, possessions—influence how happy and successful we think we are. Scientists from the university followed these men throughout their lives, checking back in with them every few years to see what they were doing, how successful and happy they felt, and what the causes of this happiness and success were (or weren’t). At the end of the project, lead researcher George Valliant was asked what he learned from the study’s decades-worth of data. It seemed, initially, that his answer might be some sort of complex scientific formula that could guide our pursuit of success and happiness moving forward. Instead, Dr. Valliant said that his research could be boiled down into a very simple phrase: “Happiness is love. Full stop.” When people were surrounded by positive relationships with others and a lot of love, they tended to feel successful and happy, regardless of how other things were going in their lives.

I think of Dr. Valliant’s work often as I travel around the country working with our Up2Us coaches. When I share his results with them, they tend to smile knowingly. The idea that love can move us forward and help make great things happen is the reason why our coaches get up every day and go to work. They are positive adults building strong, lasting relationships with young people—connections that may be constructed initially on the power of sport and physical activity, but inevitably expand to include so much more.

The start of the New Year brings many exciting things, not the least of which is National Mentoring Month, which we celebrate alongside our colleagues in the youth-serving world every January. This year, as I was reading new data from MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, I learned that 1 in 3 young people will move into their adult years without ever having a positive connection with a mentor—that is millions of young people without a teacher, coach, or other adult to help them work through the success and challenges of growing up.

As we head into 2015, we at Up2Us have a long list of things we’d like to achieve this year. At the top of that list, though, is continuing to close the mentoring gap in this country. All young people should have access to a positive, well-trained adult who cares about them and believes that they are worthy of deep, unconditional love. Dr. Valliant knew it, our Up2Us coaches know it—and they, alongside millions of other adult mentors worldwide, live it every day.

Full stop.

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Caitlin Barrett Associate Director, Coach Training & Excellence Up2Us

Operation Coach Honored by Miami HEAT

 

In honor of their work and commitment to youth in Miami through Operation Coach, the Miami HEAT honored the Operation Coach team at the November 25th "Home Strong" game against the Golden State Warriors.

The Miami HEAT's generous donation in 2014 provided Up2Us the opportunity to launch Operation Coach, a program that hires returning veterans to serve as coach-mentors in sports-based youth development programs.

The two Up2Us coaches honored at the game were Josie Martinez (Air Force Technical Sergeant E6) and Kleiton Almeida (Marine Corps Third Class Petty Officer), along with the Operation Coach Program Manager, Edwin Vasco (Marine Corps Lance Corporal).

German DuBois, Up2Us Miami Regional Director, said "the night was representative of the longstanding reputation the HEAT have of supporting local veteran causes and being part of a larger community effort to do so. We are so appreciative of the support from the HEAT. The night was an affirmation of a great partnership.”

Martinez, Almeida and Vasco were honored at half court as part of a special pre-game ceremony and given a plaque for their continued service to their communities, court-side seats and an opportunity to be shoulder to shoulder with the players in their pre-game huddle. The plaques are on display at their program sites in Miami.

Steve Stowe, Executive Director of the Miami HEAT Charitable Fund, had this to say about inspiring other professional teams to sign on with Up2Us: "We want all other teams in the NBA, maybe in other leagues, to join with Up2Us and really make a statement where we can look back 10 years from now and say this is amazing; that we started all of this in Miami.”

Questions about the Operation Coach program in Miami can be directed to Regional Director German DuBois.

Happy Holidays from Up2Us!

Your gift this holiday season has the potential to give one kid a coach to guide them through the daily challenges they face on the field, in school and in the community. Here's how:

I want you to imagine.

A child who knows that he or she is capable of being someone. This child deep down inside wants to make the right decisions in life…to stay in school…to read out loud in the classroom when the teacher calls on her...to say no to the kids who want him to do drugs or join a gang…but there is no one in that child’s life to encourage him or her to make these kinds of decisions.

This child is not a bad person, but is surrounded by other kids who laugh at education, who are moms at 15, who want him to participate in a drug deal. He does not want to do any of it. But there’s no one there. Not one positive influence. Not one person to believe in him and say: “You don’t have to do that because you are better than that. You are special. You have your whole life in front of you.”

Was that child you? Did an adult tell you that you mattered at a time in your life when you were alone or dealing with a family issue or unsure of yourself? Did a coach encourage you to quietly walk away from trouble and open that math book late at night? Did a coach make you feel you belong, you can accomplish, you are a leader?

This holiday season, I ask you to please change a child’s life by supporting Up2Us. Up2Us believes that one of the most transformative adults in child’s life is a coach. Not just any coach, but an Up2Us coach. A coach who’s trained to use that kid’s love of sports to build a relationship that guides him away from making bad choices.

If you have a son or daughter who plays sports, you know more than anyone that a coach has this kind of influence. That’s why I am building a national workforce of coaches who use the trust they develop with kids to end violence, increase academic participation and inspire future leaders.

It takes no imagination to find the child who sits on a curb in our cities with no one to inspire him or her. I can point this child out in every community in America. But through your caring, you can jump into this picture and change it forever. With your support, I will hire and train a basketball coach, soccer coach, baseball coach, tennis coach, and lacrosse coach, to walk over to that child and say:

“I believe in you.  Let’s play ball.”

It takes only one adult to see the child who wants to be more than the negative behavior that is reinforced all around him.

Please support Up2Us in your holiday giving and change a young person’s life.

Click here to donate. Every child deserves a coach!

Happy Holidays!

Paul Caccamo

GIVING TUESDAY: We Need Your Help

We want to give Chris a coach.  

Not just any coach.

A coach who can teach him how to win not just on the field, but also help him succeed in life.  A coach trained in youth development as well as in sports, who can inspire him to improve his grades in school, live a healthy lifestyle and make good decisions.  

On this National Day of Giving, please donate and help us provide coach-mentors to Chris and thousands of other youth across the nation.

Happy Holidays and thank you for being on our team!