AmeriCorps announced that Up2Us Sports would once again receive critical funding for our national service coach program. Since 2009, AmeriCorps funding has allowed us to train and support over 3,900 coaches to significantly impact the lives of nearly 100,000 young people.
Welcome to a momentous occasion as we celebrate 14 incredible years of Up2Us Sports! Since our inception, we have been committed to empowering young people through the power of sports, national service and mentorship.
We hope you will read our latest Annual Report and we thank you for your support in helping us provide underserved youth with a coach who cares about them. This report covers our 2021-2022 program and fiscal year.
The Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children's Mental Health Innovation Awards—an initiative that aims to identify and fund mental healthcare solutions for children and young adults across the United States—honors a 2022 winner, Up2Us Sports.
Today, January 12th, 2023 is our 13th Anniversary, and we are expecting to have more impact in the year ahead than ever before. We will serve more kids, recruit more coaches, support more VISTAs (front office-based service members) and help more sports-based youth development programs across the country.
Women's History Month is held annually in March to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. Up2Us Sports works with five female ambassadors who have all made their mark on their respective sports, and each hold a small - or in some cases, large - piece of history.
Women's History Month is held annually in March to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. It started with the first International Women’s Day in 1911, grew to National Women’s History Week in 1980 and was officially recognized in it’s current form in 1988. We believe that sports history is also worth celebrating this month, particularly the historic and impactful achievements of female athletes. They have been winning medals, setting records, and smashing the glass ceiling for decades. Up2Us Sports works with six female ambassadors who have all made their mark on their respective sports, and each hold a small - or in some cases, large - piece of history.
On Sunday, Up2Us Sports Ambassador Claressa Shields made history by becoming the first American boxer - male or female - to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals. The Flint, Michigan native beat Netherlands fighter Nouchka Fontijn 3-0 (40-36, 39-37, 39-37) in the middleweight category. A heavy favorite going into Rio, she was given a first round bye before beating Russia’s Yaroslava Yakushina in the quarterfinals and then Kazakhstan’s Dariga Shakimova in the semi-finals.Shields joined Up2Us Sports as an Ambassador in 2014 and has not only been a voice for, but an example of, how a you can succeed when you have an incredible coach in your corner. Learn more about her incredible journey of overcoming the odds and coming out on top by watching T-Rex: Her Fight For Gold, an award-winning documentary of her journey to winning gold in the 2012 London Games. T-Rex is currently showing on PBS’ Independent Lens.
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![[WATCH] Morgan Stanley Innovation Awards Features Up2Us Sports](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58bddd12e58c6278e8a670e2/551e2744-c233-46e6-850d-bac0223d8f13/MHA+Innovation+Feb+2023+1.jpg)
