Up2Us Sports recently recognized Tiffany Corselli as our 2019 Coach of the Year for her exemplary service and commitment to coaching and mentoring students in underserved New York communities. Tiffany is prominently featured in our 2019 short film "She Changes The Game,” which highlights the importance of our work helping girls reach their full potential through sports.
Tiffany is a scholar-athlete from Yonkers, New York who inspires young girls because she knows firsthand the impact that a caring sports coach can have on a young kid going through a difficult time. In her acceptance speech, Tiffany shared that by age 15, she had already experienced eviction, homelessness, and the loss of loved ones, and attributes her survival during that time, and her many successes since, to her coach who helped her realize her love of basketball. Tiffany believes her job is to make sure that the next kid who is going through the things she once did is given the same opportunity to succeed.
Below are additional excerpts from Tiffany's Coach of the Year acceptance speech. Her heartfelt words best describe why we named her our 2019 Coach of the Year.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I want to first start off by saying that I am truly honored and humbled to be accepting this award...I want to thank Up2Us Sports and Kids in the Game for giving me the opportunity to do the thing that I love on a daily basis…
For days I struggled about what I was going to talk about. What would be the perfect thing to say. But ultimately I decided to answer the question I get asked a hundred times Why do you coach? Well this is my why...
The late Nelson Mandela once said Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where there was only despair. By the age of 15 I experienced almost everything there was to experience. Evictions, homelessness, injuries and even deaths. I remember laying next to my mother in her hospital bed. She weighed about 70 pounds. Everytime I went to visit her it only looked like she was getting worse... at age 14 I feared I was going to lose my mother forever. For months I watched the person who means the world to me fight for their life. At that point in my life basketball was the only thing that truly made sense to me. It was my escape, and would become my healing place…
According to child trends, one in ten children nationally have experienced three or more adverse childhood experiences. I know if it wasn't for the mentors and coaches I had at such a vital time in my life I wouldn't be where I am today.
A coach can truly change a person's life. Up2Us Sports has given me the opportunity to learn, grow and mature as not only a coach but also a person. The trauma trainings have been truly beneficial. Not only do the trainings teach us how to identify trauma but also how to deal with it which I believe is very important...My job now is to make sure that the next boy and girl who is going through the things I once did is given the same opportunity to succeed. I was watching a video and a rap artist by the name of Nipsey Hussle ... said do you know how to spell the word love. T-i-m-e.(time) all children want is someone's time. Working with Kids in the Game and Up2Us Sports has allowed me to become that time kids yearn for."
