NEW YORK, NY - MAY 15: Award Recipient Coach Delmy Del Cid attends the Up2Us Sports Gala 2017 at Guastavino's on May 15, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Up2Us Sports)

On Monday, May 15, 2017, Up2Us Sports held its’ 5th Annual Gala, celebrating powerhouse female coaches and athletes. Up2Us Sports presented its Legacy Award to Mollie Marcoux Samaan (Director of Athletics at Princeton University) and Angela Ruggiero (four-time Olympic medalist in women’s ice hockey), who was unfortunately not able to attend due to a family emergency, but who was honored just the same. This year only, in recognition of the She Can Coach campaign and Up2Us Sports’ efforts to hire more female coaches to mentor and inspire young women, Cara Morey (Associate Head Coach of Princeton’s women’s ice hockey team) was presented with the She Can Coach Award. The coveted Coach of the Year award was presented to coach Delmy Del Cid by her player Meredith Cazales of South Bronx United, an Up2Us Sports member organization. Learn more about Delmy and Meredith by watching this film.

Supporters, donors, athletes, coaches, and celebrities came together to raise over $360,000 for the organization. The night also served as the official launch of an exciting new campaign called She Can Coach. This fundraising and awareness campaign will focus on the importance of growing opportunities for women to coach and ensuring young girls in vulnerable communities have great female role models in their lives. Learn more about the She Can Coach campaign here. The campaign's Founding Sponsor,Laureus Sport for Good Foundation USA, pledged $100,000 towards the campaign. Additional partners include Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women, Women’s Sports Foundation, Excelle Sports and Sport Up.

Celebrity guests included Naomi Watts, Famke Janssen, Gretchen Mol, Michele Hicks, Sandra Bernhardt, Jeanann Williams, Meredith O’Connor and Chris Clemence. Several prominent athletes were also on hand, including Up2Us Sports Ambassadors Sasha DiGiulian (professional rock climber), Sugar Rodgers (New York Liberty) and Kim Vandenberg (Olympic medalist - swimming). Lance Thomas (New York Knicks), Dawn Riley (sailing champion), Kym Hampton (retired WNBA player), Donna Weinbrecht (Olympic medalist - skiing), Camille Duvall (water skiing champion) and Damon Allen (professional boxer) rounded out athlete attendees.Missed our silent auction? We have remaining items that can be yours now through our Flash Sale!