Sasha DiGiulian...Up2Us' Rockstar

If you haven’t heard of Sasha DiGiulian by now, you should probably crawl out from underneath the rock you’ve been living under. Actually don’t…because that’s where you’ll be able to find Sasha, the world’s number one female rock climber.

At the age of seven, Sasha began her career in rock climbing at a local gym in her home state of Virginia. Recognizing her potential, they asked Sasha to join their junior’s team. One day, she walked into the gym during a regional championship and asked to participate. Sasha competed, won her category and since then, hasn’t looked back.

Now, 21, Sasha has been climbing for 14 years and has set a number of national and world records. She’s traveled to over 32 countries to pursue rock climbing for both training and competitions.

Sasha strives to push herself to go above and beyond her limits—attempting some of the worlds most difficult rock climbs. Back in 2011, she did just that. Sasha traveled to the Red River Gorge of Kentucky where she was determined to ascend one of America’s most difficult rock climbs. Rated 9a, it would be the most difficult female ascent in American rock climbing history. Not much to our surprise, Sasha completed the ascent, being the first and only North American woman to achieve 9a.

Every day, Sasha is attracting more and more attention to the sport of rock climbing. She's appeared on the cover of 16 magazines, was a featured guest at the US Embassy in Switzerland and serves as an athlete representative on the board of the International Federation of Sport Climbing.

Last year, Sasha became Up2Us’ first Ambassador and we couldn’t be more excited and proud to have her support. Because of her passion and love for rock climbing, she supports Up2Us in providing opportunities for every child to experience the transformative power of sports, no matter what that sport is.

Up2Us’ rockstar…literally.

Fast Facts about Sasha: Age: October 23, 1992 (21) Height: 5’1" Weight: 97lbs Years Rock Climbing: 14 (since 1999) College: Columbia University Favorite Color: Pink

Current Rankings: Female Overall World Champion World Ranking Leader: Female Outdoor Sport Climbing Pan American Champion Reigning U.S. National Champion

Cutting Sports, Cutting Values

I'm often receiving links to stories about the power of sports. Recently, I saw a story of a high school football team in Michigan who made a secret pact that they would forfeit every scoring opportunity when they got to their opponent’s one-yard line.   They wanted to set up one of their teammates—a child who was labeled as “not cool” because he suffered from a developmental disability—to be in a position where he could successfully carry the football into the end zone and score his first touchdown.  By the end of that game, his teammates had succeeded.  They blocked the opposing team and cleared the way for this “uncool” kid to score a touchdown and be cheered on by the entire community. Afterwards, one of the other high school football players said in tears that he learned lessons from the whole experience that he would take with him for the rest of his life.  He explained that up until that moment he had never thought of anyone but himself.  But that touchdown helped him to realize that life is really not about “you,” it’s about the actions you take for others.

This story about the power of sports led me to ponder…what if every child in this country learned this lesson at a young enough age to guide their entire future?  What kind of impact would that have on our schools, communities, businesses and governments?   Then, I pondered an even more fundamental question…where do children go to even learn these kinds of lessons today?   Unfortunately, the answer to the last question is fewer and fewer places.

Too many children grow up in homes with parents who are overly focused on their own economic and personal problems to worry about their kids.  And too many of our schools are so focused on the test score that the concept of teaching values and ethics is almost nonexistent.

That leaves after-school activities like sports.  Sports programs, like that football program in Michigan, remain the one arena where kids learn to work together with values like teamwork, leadership and compassion.  When they are led in accordance with the Up2Us standards of sports-based youth development, sports impart on young people a sense of community and belonging that does shape their futures.

Which leads me to warn communities, parks, schools and other government officials as they create their 2014 budgets. The elimination of sports programs is the elimination of values.  And these are budget cuts which none of us can afford.

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

Sticks and Stones…

What if “someone” wanted to hate you? You did nothing wrong to this “someone.”  In fact, you don’t even know why this “someone” doesn’t like you.  It might be someone from work—someone from your community—someone you met at a social gathering—someone you hardly know.

Now, what if you get an odd feeling that this “someone” really is destroying you.   They are spreading rumors that are ugly and untrue.  The rumors are about your personal life.  They are not only untrue but they are embarrassing.  And now you suddenly have this sense that these rumors have gotten to your family, your neighbors, and your co-workers.  In fact, people are now talking about you behind your back.  Stories you don’t even know about.  And there’s no way to defend yourself because you don’t even know how this is happening.

But it doesn’t stop there.  Now you hear something vicious about you on the Internet, on Twitter, on Facebook, on YouTube, and even on Instagram.

This can’t be happening.  You did nothing wrong.  You don’t even know what caused this person to hate you.  But it keeps coming.  In fact, other people are doing it too.  You’re life really is getting destroyed.

What would you do?

Now, what if you’re only 14 years old?

Welcome to “Bullying 2013.”

This month across the country, several children have taken their lives because they couldn’t take the bullying.  And yet, we have made little progress on educating those responsible for our youth—our school leaders, our teachers, our coaches—on what to do about it.  In part, because many adults confuse “Bullying 2013” with “Bullying When They Grew Up.”  It’s not the same—it’s more vicious because there are more means to communicate it.

Starting this fall, Up2Us will partner with Ben Cohen’s StandUp Foundation to create a toolkit to help coaches use the power of sports as a solution to bullying.  While many youth may associate sports as an arena that fosters bullying, it in fact can be a powerful platform for preventing it.  Coaches naturally receive the respect of their athletes.  They are in a unique position to address diversity and inclusion among their teams and steer would-be bullies into pro-social behavior.  They can also be intentional about engaging those youth who are bullied into participating in sports and facing athletic challenges that can provide them a new sense of dignity and self-worth.  And, yes, all of this can take place in the context of “positive peer pressure.”  After all, that’s what a trained coach fosters, and that’s what sports are all about.

“Stick and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.”  That was once true before those names ended up all over the Internet.  It’s no longer true today.  Up2Us is proud to lead a national effort to end bullying through the power of youth sports in America.  Let’s get our community leaders and schools to do the same.

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

I would like to acknowledge Diana Cutaia for her work in this area and her support of this Up2Us effort.