Up2Us Training in Memphis: Using SBYD as a vehicle for success

Casey HollidayMemphis Grizzlies Foundation

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In the hit NBC series Friday Night Lights, Coach Taylor was the quintessential coach-mentor: strict and moral, but fair and dedicated, a strong and level-headed mentor figure for his kids, many of whom lacked guidelines. Parents have probably longed for someone like Coach Taylor, someone who wasn’t just a coach, but a teacher, mentor and leader.

The Memphis Grizzlies Foundation partnership with Up2Us, the leading organization promoting and training coaches in sports-based youth development (SBYD), is advancing sports as a tool to address the critical social issues facing our youth. SBYD focuses on using sports as a solution to youth and community problems by providing coaches with the necessary training and support to coach kids not only in sports skill building, but also in character skill building. Coaches learn how to congratulate successes while encouraging constant growth, create safe spaces that teach emotional and physical safety, and foster the social support of a team.

Starting this year, all GrizzFIT coaches will be required to complete SBYD training through Up2Us. The coach’s role is to leverage sports to build strong and meaningful relationships with young people, helping to prepare them for success in college, career and life, and the training will further their commitment and development to mentor effectively. GrizzFIT promotes the benefits of a healthy lifestyle by encouraging people to make nutritious food choices, to exercise regularly and to have fun doing it. Within the GrizzFIT platform lies the TEAM UP Youth Sports Partnership, a coalition of community organizations that use sport as a catalyst for youth development. Fully embodying the coach’s changing role, partnership organizations Memphis Athletic Ministries (MAM), Streets Ministries and Grizzlies Prep are a part of a dedicated force committed to making SBYD training mandatory for coaches.

“They (Up2Us) treat character and leadership and resilience and all the different components that go into life and personality as much a skill as they do the sport,” said Joel Katz, manager of the TEAM UP Youth Sports Partnership. “Winning is important, and the training will not say it isn’t, because it is. But it’s understanding how to win, it’s understanding what it takes to win, it’s getting kids to believe in the process.”

Katz sees the required training as a way to redefine the coach’s typical role, and his enthusiasm for the possibilities is infectious. GrizzFIT is deep in many communities, and the training is seen as a way to bridge youth sports and mentoring. Many times, recreational coaches are volunteers and don’t have any formal training or professional development. The SBYD training helps demonstrate how coaches can also be mentors, utilizing the special relationship between coaches and kids to reach past sports skills and into life skills. In a program like GrizzFIT, where many participants may not have access to positive role models, the training helps coaches fill a void.

Coaches often come out of training with a new energy and appreciation of coaching. By learning new coaching techniques that can be directly applied to their teams, they become more confident in their own abilities, a confidence that is then directed to the kids. Sports can be a catalyst for driving leadership development, and with SBYD training, coaches will understand how to draw out, expand and ultimately create future community leaders.

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This piece was originally published on the Memphis Grizzlies Foundation blog on 1/29/15 under the title, The Coach's Changing Role: Using sports-based youth development as a vehicle for success.

U.S. Department of Justice Funds Up2Us Sports Coaches for Another Year of Decreased Youth Violence

Up2Us Sports was awarded, for the second time, a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). The funds will be used to launch the Multi-State Coach Mentoring Initiative, which will place 65 coach-mentors in 12 major cities to support sports-based youth development programs that are designed to prevent youth violence.

The first $1 million grant from OJJDP was awarded to help reduce youth violence in low-income, disadvantaged neighborhoods. Up2Us used these funds to place coach-mentors in 12 cities at 25 host sites from March 2013 through March 2014.

In one year the coach-mentors made a big impact:

• 66 coach-mentors served over 4,800 youth;
• Less than 1% of program youth committed a delinquent offense;
• 40% of youth reported an increase in physical activity;
• 86% of coaches reported that their programs provided more opportunities for youth to be physically active than they would otherwise have had.

Additionally, these youth were measured on a set of eight attributes, called High Impact Attributes (HIAs), such as discipline and positive identity, which are developed through sport and have been linked with various positive life outcomes. At the end of the program, 88% of youth reported competency on the HIAs, with 43% of youth increasing this competency during program participation.

The new cohort of OJJDP-funded coach-mentors will be trained at Up2Us Sports’ four-day National Coach Training Institute in Chicago from Feb. 28 through March 3.

Apply to Bring an AmeriCorps VISTA to Your Organization!

For 50 years, the AmeriCorps VISTA program has been at the forefront of building capacity of communities to fight poverty. VISTA members devote a year of their lives to challenge poverty’s root causes. The goal of the Up2Us VISTA program is to build the capacity of Up2Us member organizations who run high-quality sports-based youth development programming in under-served communities. We are proud to have placed over 120 VISTAs at 40 Up2Us member organizations over the past five years. In 2014 alone, the 30 Up2Us VISTA members helped their host site organizations 6.2 million in cash and in-kind donations. Their combined efforts allowed Up2Us host sites to serve nearly 150,000 new participants.

We would like to invite our member organizations to apply to host a 2015-2016 VISTA. The application can be found here.

For more information, please join us for the VISTA Program Overview/RFP Assistance on Tuesday, February 3rd at 3pm EST. Please join us to learn more about how hosting an Up2Us VISTA member can build the capacity of your program! You can register by emailing Leah.

Operation Coach Honored by Miami HEAT

 

In honor of their work and commitment to youth in Miami through Operation Coach, the Miami HEAT honored the Operation Coach team at the November 25th "Home Strong" game against the Golden State Warriors.

The Miami HEAT's generous donation in 2014 provided Up2Us the opportunity to launch Operation Coach, a program that hires returning veterans to serve as coach-mentors in sports-based youth development programs.

The two Up2Us coaches honored at the game were Josie Martinez (Air Force Technical Sergeant E6) and Kleiton Almeida (Marine Corps Third Class Petty Officer), along with the Operation Coach Program Manager, Edwin Vasco (Marine Corps Lance Corporal).

German DuBois, Up2Us Miami Regional Director, said "the night was representative of the longstanding reputation the HEAT have of supporting local veteran causes and being part of a larger community effort to do so. We are so appreciative of the support from the HEAT. The night was an affirmation of a great partnership.”

Martinez, Almeida and Vasco were honored at half court as part of a special pre-game ceremony and given a plaque for their continued service to their communities, court-side seats and an opportunity to be shoulder to shoulder with the players in their pre-game huddle. The plaques are on display at their program sites in Miami.

Steve Stowe, Executive Director of the Miami HEAT Charitable Fund, had this to say about inspiring other professional teams to sign on with Up2Us: "We want all other teams in the NBA, maybe in other leagues, to join with Up2Us and really make a statement where we can look back 10 years from now and say this is amazing; that we started all of this in Miami.”

Questions about the Operation Coach program in Miami can be directed to Regional Director German DuBois.

GIVING TUESDAY: We Need Your Help

We want to give Chris a coach.  

Not just any coach.

A coach who can teach him how to win not just on the field, but also help him succeed in life.  A coach trained in youth development as well as in sports, who can inspire him to improve his grades in school, live a healthy lifestyle and make good decisions.  

On this National Day of Giving, please donate and help us provide coach-mentors to Chris and thousands of other youth across the nation.

Happy Holidays and thank you for being on our team!

Coach Across America RFP Deadline Extended!

Please note the deadline for the Coach Across America RFP Deadline has been extended to Sunday, January 4, 2015 at 11:59pm EST. 

If you are interested in hosting coaches through our Coach Across America (CAA) program  in 2015-2016 to help build capacity at your organization and serve more youth, please complete the online application.

NOTE: There are different applications for organizations in New Orleans and Miami.

Coach Across America Request For Proposal 

Coach Across America Request For Proposal - MIAMI

Coach Across America Request For Proposal - NEW ORLEANS

Coach Across America (CAA), the flagship program of Up2Us, is the first nationwide effort to mobilize young adults to be coaches in underserved communities.  Beyond financial assistance for coach wage/stipend, CAA supports member organizations to recruit, train, and supervise CAA coaches that serve in their respective programs.

Up2Us will host our first technical assistance webinar on the CAA application on Tuesday, November 25 at 11:00am EST.  To register, click here.  During this orientation, CAA staff will review the application and answer questions related to the program.  We will reach out with more information on our second webinar soon.

If you have any questions regarding the CAA application, please contact your CAA Program Manager (for returning Host Sites) and/or:

Isabel Pradas Director Coach Across America 212-563-3031 ipradas@up2us.org

Pam Shriver hosts Tennis Clinic for Los Angeles Youth

On September 29, nearly 100 students from South Los Angeles attended an Up2Us tennis clinic hosted by tennis great and ESPN broadcaster, Pam Shriver.  Shriver was joined by a group of Coach Across America coaches who had just completed an Up2Us Coach Training Institute where they learned techniques for using sports to mentor at-risk youth.

[WATCH] Coach Roy Williams Supports Coach Across America Coaches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGlR8eSbxdk Hall of Fame Coach, Roy Williams, of the University of North Carolina Mens Basketball team, congratulates Coach Across America coaches on the work they have done to mentor at-risk youth through sports. Coach Williams encourages coaches to leave a positive impact on players and to develop an environment that helps players become good people.

[LISTEN] NPR Segment Highlights Trauma-Sensitive Coach Training

The creators of Only a Game, a National Public Radio (NPR) show on the untold stories in sports, joined Coach Across America coaches and host site supervisors at the fifth annual Coach Training Institute in Boston last month.  Only a Game highlighted Up2Us' innovative trauma-sensitive coach training and how Beyond the Ball, an Up2Us member organization, has used sports and coaching to transform the Chicago neighborhood of Little Village. Over the course of the four days, 115 Coach Across America coaches and site supervisors participated in interactive workshops and discussions on the foundations of sports-based youth development, trauma-sensitive coaching, and managing challenging behavior.  Additionally, they built new networks across state and organization lines, which  will serve them well throughout their terms of service.  This year's event was the Up2Us Center's largest yet in Boston!  Furthermore, we were excited to welcome the eight coaches who are part of our pilot Operation Coach program, which places post-9/11 military veterans as coaches at Up2Us member organizations in the Miami area.

Click below to listen to the segment from NPR radio program, Only a Game:

[Watch] Up2Us Celebrates AmeriCorps 20th Anniversary

On September 12, the Up2Us team helped AmeriCorps celebrate its 20th Anniversary all over the country.  Over 50 NYC Coach Across America coaches and VISTA members recited the AmeriCorps pledge in Times Square to commemorate the first pledge taken 20 years ago.  DC coaches attended the national AmeriCorps 20th celebration on the White House lawn with President Obama and President Clinton speaking on the importance of national service.  Up2Us also attended state celebration events in Illinois, Florida and Louisiana. AmeriCorps has been invaluable in the Up2Us history, as in 2009 it provided Up2Us one of the first grants to begin hiring its first Coach Across America coaches. Since then, Up2Us has grown and placed over 1700 Coach Across America coaches to use sports to transform the lives of America's youth.  These trained coaches can lead to significant increases in physical activity that reduces the risk of obesity.  Coach Across America coaches have helped youth in the worst performing schools to refocus their energy into educational pathways that lead to college and successful careers.

In addition to supporting coaches, AmeriCorps has also supported over 100 Up2Us AmeriCorps VISTAs.  VISTAs work as a part of the Up2Us team to build capacity in grassroots organizations that use sports-based youth development to improve the local community.  These volunteers help to increase the effectiveness of sports organizations all over the country.

Up2Us is proud to be a part of the first 20 years of national service.  Happy birthday, AmeriCorps!

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Coach Across America coaches from the DC area attended the AmeriCorps 20th Anniversary ceremony at the White House!

Photo by Coach Joseph

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The Up2Us NOLA team attends the Louisiana state event for the AmeriCorps 20th Anniversary.

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Coach Across America coaches and AmeriCorps VISTA members celebrate in NYC.

Coaches Cycle to Raise Money for Operation Coach

Cycle Forward for Operation Coach was a great success!   Our New York Coach Across America (CAA) coaches came to sweat and cycle on behalf of their generous sponsors.  Fitness expert, Zack Schares instructed three intense, but fun spin classes set to a live DJ and energetic music.   We are very grateful to everyone that participated and donated to make our first Cycle Forward event a success.  All of the money donated will go towards Up2Us’ veteran coach initiative called Operation Coach, which employs post-9/11 veterans to serve as coach/mentors to youth in underprivileged areas. A huge “Thank you!” to you to everyone that was involved!

For more information on live DJ cycling classes, visit www.zaxfit.com

NY Jets Donate Bikes to Up2Us Members

On Thursday, August 7, 25 New York City area youth, from Up2Us members I Challenge Myself, Shred Love and Street Squash Newark, received new bicycles and helmets from Barnum Financial Group, an office of MetLife and the Foundation for Life as part of Barnum’s “Bikes for Kids.”  The presentation occurred at MetLife Stadium, prior to the New York Jets vs. Indianapolis Colts preseason game.  Following the presentation, the Jets treated the youth and invited guests to tickets to the football game.Click here to see television coverage from SNY.