On Monday, June 29, Up2Us Sports officially welcomed 180 Summer VISTAs to the 2020 Up2Us Sports Summer VISTA Program. 180 VISTAs started their nine-week service term at 100 nonprofit organizations nationwide. Their term will end on Friday, August 28th.

15 of the 180 VISTAs have been serving internally at Up2Us Sports in various capacities. We are excited to have this group of ambitious service members help our team across the nation, which will in turn help us better serve our 1,700+ member organizations, 470+ host sites and 250+ coaches in the days and months ahead.

We wanted you to get to know the 15 VISTAs who have spent their summer helping grow the capacity of Up2Us Sports from within.

Name: Miles Chinn

Age: 27

What city are you located in?
Miami, Florida

What department within Up2Us Sports are you serving in?
Programs - Miami

*Miles also served as an Up2Us Sports Coach from August 2016 - June 2019 at Overtown Youth Center in Miami, Florida.

What led you to want to do a service term, particularly right now?
Broadening my skill set in the non profit space as well as sharing my experiences with my peers and those that are new to the sports based youth development field.

What does national service mean to you?
It’s a way to give back to the community that played a part in me being who I am today. It’s also about being there for the generations coming up now. By providing them mentorship and demonstrating good leadership lends a hand in building a brighter future.

What is one thing you hope to take away from your 9 weeks of service?
A better comprehensive understanding for the leg work that goes into running a non profit organization.

Did you play sports and did It have an impact on why you decided to serve at a youth sports organization?
I played organized football along with a bevy of other sports for fun. Some of the translatable skills in football weren’t apparent to me prior to receiving SBYD training.