Up2Us Sports coaches are leaders in the field of sports-based youth development (SBYD), but they often don't receive the recognition they deserve. Coaches' Corner is our way to show our appreciation for our incredible coaches who make positive change in their communities every day!

This month, we spoke with Christopher Costa, a coach at Providence County Wrestling Club.

How many people do you know who could spend as many as 12 hours a day with children of which they are not the parents?

Probably not many. 

But Christopher Costa, a social studies teacher at Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School in Coventry, Rhode Island and an Up2Us Sports coach at Providence County Wrestling Club (PCWC), does just that every day.

A 26-year-old born-and-raised Rhode Islander and graduate of Rhode Island College, Christopher’s career paths as both a teacher and a coach have long been intertwined. 

“It first started while I was working as a building-specific substitute at a local middle school during my first year teaching,” he said. “I was eager to help out, so I quickly applied to serve as the school’s assistant wrestling coach. Wrestling is one of the oldest sports on the planet, and helping kids participate in a tradition that is thousands of years old that sharpens their body and mind sounded very appealing to me. 

“Within a few days, I received a call from Eugene Monteiro, the head coach at [PCWC], and the rest is history. I fell in love with the club’s mission of providing opportunities for every child, and one season of assistant coaching has turned into a five-year-long passion project.”

Over the past five years at PCWC, Christopher has coached youth of all ages, from four-year-old wrestlers to college-aged wrestlers, mainly working with middle and high school students. And even when he’s not formally teaching in his classroom at Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School, he still continues to provide academic support to youth at PCWC through the program’s study halls and one-on-one tutoring sessions.

“We [at PCWC]… take great care to get to know each and every one of our athletes so that we can meet them where they are at and help mentor them into the types of people we know they can be,” Christopher said. “Our students feel the investment we are making in them, and that is key to the success of our program.”

As someone who is an educator both in the classroom and on the wrestling mat, it is no surprise that Christopher has long-considered education to be of great importance. “My family are immigrants from Portugal,” Christopher said, “and I was taught at a very early age that education was key to economic and personal fulfillment later in life. I have brought these early lessons into my professional practices, and that passion helps drive me when the road gets rough.”

As I’m sure you can imagine, balancing a full-time teaching career with a coaching career can be daunting, and that road can get rough. “Both jobs usually add up to a 12-hour work day, and that can lead to intense feelings of empathy fatigue and burn out,” Christopher admitted. “An empty cup can’t pour into others, so I try the best that I can to take care of myself. Summer can’t come soon enough!”

Beyond just his own passion for teaching and coaching, Christopher finds motivation in the others he works with at PCWC and in the dedication to youth he observes in them. 

“Swallowing the workload that comes with being a teacher and a PCWC [and] Up2Us [Sports] coach is difficult, but it is made easier by seeing the sacrifices our other coaches make for our kids,” he said. “Eugene Monteiro and Brandon Williams [another current Up2Us Sports coach], along with many others, have sacrificed personal time, money, and other resources to keep our kids safe — if they’re doing it, why can’t I? They help to inspire me and keep my eyes on the prize.”

But even on those days when summer feels like it can’t come soon enough, Christopher still believes teaching and coaching are “the most important and rewarding enterprises” of his life so far. And, like so many of our Up2Us Sports coaches would tell you, seeing the youth he once coached grow up and move on to great things makes it all worthwhile.

“The most rewarding part of coaching at PCWC has been seeing our alumni finish high school and head off to college,” Christopher said. “Many of the student athletes our club services are living in poverty, and many more are dealing with the familial dysfunction, poor quality of schools, health risks, and other dangers that come with growing up with less. Seeing kids whom I spent long nights worrying about completing the program and emerging as kind, confident young men and women is what the job’s all about.” 

Christopher has served as an Up2Us Sports coach at Providence County Wrestling Club in Pawtucket, Rhode Island since March 2022 thanks to support from AmeriCorps.