Was there a coach who made a difference in your life? Did a coach instill confidence and courage in your son or your daughter? Was there a coach who once saw potential in you or
someone you loved and never gave up until that potential was realized?

Honor that coach.

Help us launch #ThanksCoach, our national campaign to recognize the contributions of coaches throughout this country for National Coach Appreciation Day on November 4. We ask that you please make a donation in your coach’s name to Up2Us Sports so that we can recruit, train and hire more coaches to inspire at-risk youth in communities across this country. All children deserve a coach who sees their potential and who will never give up on them. Here is your chance to recognize the coach in your life by playing it forward and supporting a coach to inspire kids in underserved communities.

To support our campaign, make a donation in honor of a coach who positively impacted your life. You can recognize the coach by donating on our website at www.give.classy.org/ThanksCoach. You can also tell us about your coach on social media using #ThanksCoach.

We want to display the names of coaches on our campaign website who have made a difference in the lives of so many people like you throughout this country. That’s why we are asking for your support as part of our campaign focused on National Coach Appreciation Day. I promise that we will not make another request during the holidays because your generosity will go a long way to support coaches at the start of the upcoming year.

Most importantly, your generosity will help us to create a national dialogue about why our work matters. Far too many young people in low income areas in this country have seen their sports programs cut or eliminated. As a result, they do not have coaches as mentors and role models. When confronted with a decision like joining a gang or experimenting with drugs or dropping out of school, these young people are missing the opportunity to turn to their coach. We all know what their coach would say: I believe in you. You’re better than that. And of course, I’m expecting you at practice the second that school bell rings. Don’t be late.

Up2Us Sports has provided more than 2,000 coaches to more than 400,000 youth since we started our nonprofit mission in 2010. Nearly half of our coaches are women working with underserved girls. More than 100 coaches have been returning veterans who are translating their military service to community service. Our coaches coach more than 40 different sports and many of them are the only reason their sports programs exist in communities that have seen most of their after-school programs eliminated.

Your support will not only help us to provide these communities a coach, but a trained coach. We have proven that coaches who are trained by Up2Us Sports in life skills development are some of the greatest influences on the young people they serve. We have demonstrated that a dollar spent on our coaches can save 10 times that amount in crime and disease prevention alone. This proof has enabled us to attract matching government and corporate support that triples every donation that you make. So, please, support us now as we increase the number of coaches we hope to support in 2019.

And, may I leave you with this holiday wish: next time you are driving through our communities, I hope that you hear the sounds of laughter, teamwork, healthy competition and play.  I hope that you see young people demonstrating leadership, discipline and focus that comes from playing sports. And I hope that you smile. Smile because your #ThanksCoach donation made this all possible.

May I be the first to wish you a happy holiday season. Thank you for making Up2Us Sports and our mission possible. And thank you for sharing with us the power of your coach.