The Up2Us Sports Training Team recently finished a successful year-long training series with the Southern California Golf Association’s Junior Golf Foundation.

Across four full-level sessions from June 2023 through January 2024, Up2Us Sports trainers Marysol, Dre, Nancy and Frank trained small groups of participants at varying levels of their coaching experiences. The goal was to provide foundational knowledge in Sports-Based Youth Development and trauma-informed approaches to every SCGA Jr. coach, volunteer, and staff member in order to establish a core approach to working with the young people in their program. A special emphasis was placed on teaching coaches tools that they can begin implementing and applying right away.

“It is really exciting to collaborate with SCGA Jr. because they are completely dedicated to providing high-quality SBYD programming for their golfers,” said Training Manager Marysol Flores. “Their team consistently asks for feedback on how they can better support their youth and coaches - and the fact that they have brought us in to develop a multi-year training plan is a testament to their level of investment in both their youth and coaches. We feel privileged to work with such great coaches, staff, and volunteers, and teach foundational concepts and techniques that support our shared missions and goals.”

The training series was a great success, with high learner engagement and participation throughout the sessions. The partnership is planned to continue for a second year with a new series of trainings that will focus on building upon their knowledge base and taking their coaching to the next level, while continuing to offer base-level training to newer coaches and volunteers that join the SCGA Jr. team.

The core sessions covered were:

Introduction to Sports-Based Youth Development (SBYD): 

This session explores the profound impact that SBYD coaches can have on the youth they serve and introduces the core competencies they need to be great coach-mentors. This session also encourages coaches to think about all the ways to plan practices to help youth up their game – on the field, in the classroom, and for the rest of their lives. 

Vital Connections:

This session is about forming relationships with youth participants during active play. It provides coaches with ways to deepen connections with students while youth are participating in sports or other activities. 

Building Positive Program Culture:

Teams with a strong, positive culture help youth feel connected and safe. There are four things coaches can do to build this culture: follow a strict behavior code; practice positive traditions; provide opportunities to matter; and help kids make friends. This session explores how coaches can create a strong culture that supports their other programming efforts. 

Stress and the Brain 101: 

Trauma-informed coaches have an understanding of how the human brain responds to stress and trauma and can recognize that the behavior of young people tells a powerful story. This session clarifies the importance for trauma-sensitive coaches to understand that there’s more than what meets the eye when it comes to the reactions young people may have in our programs. 

Managing Challenging Behavior:

The youth who need SBYD programs the most are often the ones for whom behavior challenges are the most visible. In this session, we challenge coaches to shift their mindset to think about behavior as a skill; through this lens, we can then leverage the same skill-building process that works for sports and life skills to help young people chart new behavior courses as well.  This session also includes a time of reflection with personalized takeaways to implement into programming.

The mission of SCGA Junior Golf Foundation is to develop an inclusive golf community that enables kids to thrive on and beyond the course.  The Foundation believes that every kid in Southern California, no matter their circumstance, should have the opportunity to pursue the game and experience the positive impact that it can have.

Learn more at www.scga.org/jgf.

Click here learn more about Up2Us Training. If you’re interested in bringing our SBYD training to your organization, fill out our interest form here. Please allow 6-8 weeks of planning time.