School Reform: Coach Style

If you don't know Dr. Ratey's work…well you should. He's a cutting-edge Harvard researcher who is exploring why sports and physical activity have such positive impacts on childhood development. He was intrigued by the subject upon studying one mid-western school district with some of the highest performing students, the highest attendance rates, and the highest graduation rates in the nation—despite being nothing special in terms of per-student spending relative to other school districts.  But, what the school district did have was the most physically active students.   Observing this, Dr. Ratey began to research what impact exercise through activities like sports and physical education have on the developing brain.   What he found is fascinating.

Regular participation in sports causes a specific part of the brain to produce cells at a much more accelerated rate. This is the same part of the brain responsible for executive functions—behavior that enables a child to focus on school work, to exercise self-control and to engage in decision-making such as doing homework. The more fit a child is, the better learner (s)he is.

So now let's turn to school reform.

Dr. Ratey's research suggests that perhaps one of the greatest assets for influencing the academic performance of children in our public schools is the sports coach.   The coach is the one person in each school who, in essence,  “prepares the brains” of the young student-athletes to function maximally in the classroom.   But in all these decades-long discussions about school reform, do we ever hear anything about how coaches fit into the mix?   

I say that it's time we take another look at the requirements, training and support for coaches who work in our public schools. They know their sports already but let's train them on how a child’s brain works and the critical role they play in developing it.   Let's provide them with new tools, methodologies and resources so that they can maximize their impact on the academic readiness of their youth.  Of course, some coaches are already familiar with this subject matter, but many coaches are not.  In fact, some of the lowest performing schools have NO coaches to play this critical role in turning academic results around.   Dr. Ratey would probably agree with me:  no wonder those schools continue to fail our youth.

That’s why I also suggest we put more resources into studying the impact of Dr. Ratey’s work.  Let’s create “sports empowerment zones” within our failing public schools.  Let’s see if we can increase physical activity in these schools through trained coaches, which can also increase attendance, grades and test scores. Up2Us can help by providing coaches to these schools through the Up2Us COACH Across America workforce.  We can also develop unique partnerships with these schools to ensure that every child participates in “academic-sports readiness” through the nearly 700 organizations that are part of the Up2Us coalition.

That’s school reform…

And it doesn't cost a whole lot of money either.

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

Coach Across America Goes to the Super Bowl

As many of you know, Up2Us was featured in a Super Bowl pregame show segment that focused on the powerful impact of Coach Across America. Our idea at Up2Us has always been a simple one. We know that kids look up to coaches more than any other adults besides their parents. Let's equip these coaches with the skills to be able to address the most critical challenges facing kids—from health to safety to academic success. In communities where there are no coaches, let's hire coaches, train them and place them in playgrounds, in parks, in community centers, in nonprofits and in schools where they are needed the most.

However, we cannot do this alone. We need to raise awareness that events like Super Bowl Sunday are not just about a game, they are about change.  And that sports in general are not just about entertainment, but they are about solutions to America’s problems.

What better way for us to trumpet this message then by having a televised segment at the nation's most popular sporting event…but shouldn't this kind of advertising be a part of every sporting event?

Can you imagine if one minute of every professional sports game was dedicated to highlighting a local nonprofit and the work they are doing through sports to solve challenges in the surrounding community?   A captive audience of fans would not only be entertained by the home team but be inspired by the home community. It would also raise the level of awareness that is necessary for the sports-based youth development movement to gain ground and solve the problems that education reform and violence reform have insufficiently addressed.

So, next time you attend that game, hear that national anthem, stand up for the seventh-inning stretch, enjoy the halftime celebration.  Please help me to dream that instead of a highlight, one day there will be a “60 Second Community Sport-light”…that regular feature on the Jumbotron or televised broadcast that you always know to look up at to be inspired.  That “spot” that shows the power of sports, not just to unite us for the game, but to inspire our kids and communities to be the best they can be.

“This week, our team is proud to sport-light a local nonprofit that is using our sport to improve graduation rates in our public schools…Please join me, take a look at the Jumbotron and be inspired…”

Can you hear it?

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

The Year of the Coach

Every child in this country deserves a Coach Across America coach. A Coach Across America coach is an adult whom they can turn to for support and guidance on the many challenges they face growing up.  A Coach Across America coach is trained to respond to that child's challenges within the context of that child’s age, gender, socioeconomic status, and cultural background.  A Coach Across America coach is a lifeline to many of our youth living in circumstances where they have no other responsible adult to be their role model.

Up2Us is dedicated to building coaches through Coach Across America and to supporting the impact of all coaches throughout America.

I've written time and time again in this blog that we must find “new solutions,” if we are going to overcome the persistent challenges that threaten the well-being of our youth.  Real education reform does not start in the school, it starts in the home and it encompasses every step a child takes between the door of that home and the door of their classroom. Children need all kinds of adults to navigate this journey successfully. While parents and teachers may be the “bookends,” it's the coaches who are the "in-betweens."  Coaches fill the parks, the gyms, the pools, the playgrounds, the community centers and even abandoned lots with safe, healthy and engaging activities. They make our cities more vibrant, our neighbors more connected, and our kids more able to succeed.

Coaches are this “new solution” and that is why I am proclaiming 2013 “The Year of the Coach.”

To celebrate this proclamation, I am also announcing the launch of our National Coach Across America Advisory Board. This board will consist of a distinguished group of professional coaches who are willing to speak out on the importance of coaching as a means of addressing the health, violence and academic challenges facing young people across the nation.  The founding members of this board are Coach Roy Williams of The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Coach “P”, Joanne Palombo-McCallie, of Duke University.  While their schools may represent one of the nation's greatest basketball rivalries on the courts, they have united to speak out on behalf of the power of coaching in our communities. Throughout this year, Up2Us will be adding more professional coaches to support our campaign.

As we start 2013, let me thank Mercedes-Benz USA, Nike Inc., the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, the Corporation for National & Community Service and the Department of Justice.  Together, they have helped us create a national workforce of coaches.  And let me say thanks you to Coach Williams and Coach P.  You are both role models for our youth. You help us rethink what's possible.   Why, with the example you set in North Carolina, who knows what’s next?  Let’s get a NY coach to join hands with a coach from Boston! Let’s get a Chicago Coach to partner with a coach from Green Bay!  Ohio and Michigan!???

Rivalries aside, we know sports have the power to unite us a nation…and what greater cause to direct that power towards than our youth.

Happy 2013!

Happy Year of the Coach!

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

A New Solution to Violence in America

Last week, before the horrific events in Connecticut, I wrote this blog to share a unique approach for reducing violence against children in our nation.  Violent acts on innocent lives like the recent shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, have unfortunately become far too common.  Today, our nation may finally be ready to explore steps that can be taken to stop the violence.  As we do so, I hope this blog contributes to the conversation that we need to have in order to build safer communities for our children to thrive and grow. This past month, Up2Us was awarded a $1 million grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).  OJJDP is a federal agency that is part of the Department of Justice.  The main objective of OJJDP is to prevent violence amongst youth.

The grant to Up2Us will support the hiring of dozens of young adults to serve as "coach-mentors” in neighborhoods with high rates of violence.  This will be the first time that sports coaches will be employed at a national level to teach kids conflict resolution, mental health, social inclusion, leadership and positive youth development.

This effort is groundbreaking.

We know that as a nation, we need to address the social alienation and utter disregard for life that becomes assimilated into the mind-frames of the perpetrators of gun violence.  Our schools primarily focus on academic success and often fail to address these other aspects of social development.  In fact, many schools have been forced to cut sports and other programs that give young people a sense of belonging, teamwork and connection.

Up2Us is determined to reverse this trend.  We believe the social skills learned through sports are as critical as the academic skills learned in the classroom.  We believe the "coach-mentor" is as vital to a child's development as the "academic-mentor."  We believe that we must ensure that all youth in this nation have access to the extra-curricular activities that give them a sense of belonging and teach them to empathize with others.  It is this empathy that leads to long-term success in school, in the community and in the workplace.  It is empathy that prevents a person from disregarding another's life.  Sports provide a framework that teaches kids to be empathetic.

Despite the epidemic of youth violence, Americans must remain hopeful.  This is the time to finally invest in new approaches to raising our kids that yield better results for this next generation.  As the Founder of Up2Us, I believe one of these approaches is to build a national workforce of young adults who are trained to use the values of sports to teach kids the values of life.  I look forward to making 2013 a banner year for the emerging field of sports-based youth development.  We need it now more than ever.

Our thoughts and prayers are with every child who is not with us to celebrate this holiday season.

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

"Giving Tuesday"…on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday...

So I'm all for marketing concepts and since every store from Best Buy to the Gap had "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday", why shouldn't we have our day too?  But unlike flat-screen TVs, toaster ovens, and wool V-neck sweaters, our work is so critical that we need support every single day of the year. By "we" I am speaking of the entire nonprofit sector. But I am also talking about the more than 600 organizations in the Up2Us network.  These programs use 67 sports to teach more than 25,000,000 kids the kinds of skills that they will use throughout their lifetime.  Whether it's self-esteem, self-control, courage, confidence or tenacity, sports inspire young people with character traits that build their potential for success as students, employees and citizens.

This year, Up2Us hired, trained and supervised nearly 325 coach-mentors to help our member organizations reach 40,000 at-risk youth, mostly in urban areas of poverty. Coaches and programs in the Up2Us network received more than 7,750 hours in training on how to fight childhood obesity, prevent crime, and promote academics. Up2Us recruited and placed 30 AmeriCorps*VISTA staff who raised an additional $1,600,000 for youth sports programming.  Up2Us provided more than $500,000 in costs savings through discounted supplies and uniforms.  Up2Us also launched the first national data tool for measuring the Social Return on Investment of sports-based youth development on health.

Most importantly, Up2Us has defined a field that merges youth sports with youth development to be the most effective solution to the physical, mental and social challenges facing American young people today.

Like all nonprofits, our work continues tomorrow and the next day, whether they are marketed as "Cyber" or not.  So during this holiday season and throughout the year ahead, we need you to remember that there is no better purchase than helping a child live a better life.

To donate to Up2Us, please visit www.up2us.org.

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

The ABC’s of SBYD for Coaches

"Sports has the power to change the world." Nelson Mandela said it. And with great humility, I would like to modify it:

"Coaches change the world."

No single group of volunteers in this nation have more influence on more young people on a regular basis than their coaches. Next to parents, kids cite coaches as their greatest influences, role models, examples, and, at times, saviors.

Yet we do not train coaches. Can you imagine the impact we could have on the challenges facing the next generation of Americans IF WE DID?

On the last blog, I shared the ABCs of effective sports-based youth development (SBYD) programs. On this blog I'd like to share the ABCs of good SBYD coaching. And heads up--they have nothing to do with sports:

A. Focus on Relationship Building. A team can win a game, support each other in school, even transform a community. But they can't do anything of these things without first becoming a team. A coach needs to be trained on how to create bonds with players and among players. These bonds need to transcend ages, skill levels, backgrounds, sizes, abilities and gender. They need to ensure that everyone feels included and that everyone is respected. They need to encourage risk taking as well as praise. They need to affirm belonging.

B. Determine the Endgame. A coach has the power to drive the team to victory, but only after (s)he determines what victory means for the team in their community. In a community with high rates of violence, the endgame might be that the team supports each other to say no to gangs. In a community with high drop out rates, it might mean supporting one another to stay in school. In a community with high rates of teenage substance abuse, it might mean supporting each other to stay clean and sober.

If coaches determine the endgame, they can design practices where activities and conversations address these issues, to generate codes of conduct among players, and to encourage success. The results will even contribute to a winning season.

C. Have a Plan or Plan(s). A coach cannot accomplish A and B without C! They need to know how to plan practices so they maximize the participation and worth of each player. They also need to plan practices to achieve their endgame. They should consider each component of the practice from the team check-in at the beginning, to the warm up, to the drills, scrimmages, and even the cooling down. Do each of these engage all players? Do they encourage relationship building? Do they inspire leadership? Do they maximize positive communication? Do they encourage risk taking? Do they relate back to the goals of life skills development? Do they reinforce life lessons? Do they encourage youth to affirm their commitment to avoid gangs, drugs, to stay in school?

D. Reflect. Practice shouldn't end when the whistle blows. Being a coach means being the role model for every kid in the team. Coaches should ask themselves, "How did I do?" Did they see the entire team participating? Did they see learning taking place? Do they need more training on how to better design a practice? Do they need more information for addressing a challenge that the team is facing (e.g., violence in their community)? Reflection should not only focus on the practice itself but on the wider community as well. When a coach learns of problems facing youth in the neighborhood (crime, emergencies, natural disasters) does (s)he consider how to address it at the next practice? How to make recovery from it part of the "endgame"? After all, if a coach doesn't address it, chances are no one will. And then each player on the team will lose one powerful ally in helping them navigate through childhood.

Through the Up2Us Center on Sports-Based Youth Development, we are leading a national effort to train coaches on the "ABC"'s, and the "D" of SBYD coaching. Thanks to the support of our funders, we will soon be announcing a second National Coach Training Institute that will be open to all coaches who want to make a greater difference in the lives of their players. We will also be conducting smaller trainings in cities across the country. For information, please email us at info@up2us.org.

Change the World. Like No Else Can. Coach...SBYD-style.

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

The ABCs of SBYD for Programs

Without even trying, sports have more impact on kids’ lives than any other social activity.  How many people do you know who attribute their business success, academic success, and social success to lessons learned from playing sports?   Now, what if sports actually tried? That's what the SBYD (Sports-Based Youth Development) Movement is all about.   By combining sports with the proven concepts of youth development, we can help youth sports programs in every community become even more effective as positive influences on the lives of the youth they serve.

I had the opportunity to spend last week with nearly 150 Coach Across America coaches and youth sports program administrators.  It was all part of the Up2Us Coach Training Institute, which we conduct annually in partnership with Boston University.  We talked about the ABC’s of SBYD Programs.  I wanted to share these with you:

A.  Kids feel safe.  That means physically and psychologically.  Their fields and basketball courts need to be safe.  But youth also need to feel it’s okay to make mistakes and still be respected by their teammates and coach regardless of their abilities.  In under-resourced communities, there are very few environments where a child can try, fail and try again.  It’s critical that coaches ensure that sports fields are emotionally safe places for youth to learn these essential life skills.

B.  Coaches are role models.   Coaches need to recognize the unique role they have in using sports to create positive relationships with every member of their team.  After all, how many other adults get to demonstrate to a young person the proper way to act, react and even counter-act?  Sports provide this unique framework for modeling behavior, and coaches must be prepared to set a positive example that youth will translate on and off the field.

C. Practices are intentional.  Coaches should not just show up, blow a whistle, and tell everyone to do laps. They should be intentional about the goals they have for their team, not just as athletes but as human beings.  While practices can emphasize dribbling, they can also emphasize how to get along with each other, how to do well in school and how to eat right.  It all starts with a coach being prepared.   From starting practice by asking about schoolwork, to ending it with a discussion of respecting one another and saying no to violence, an intentional coach holds the key to directing a young person to make better life choices.

D. Programs are well administered.  This one sounds boring but it’s not.  Little League, Pop Warner and Youth Soccer Associations are some of the most organized sports programs in the country. Why? Because they all have strong administrations.  All sports programs, even in the most under-resourced communities, should strive for a structure that ensures solid systems for outreach, enrollment, funding, training, and evaluation.  Kids, especially in low-income communities, need stable structures to support them.  They also need to know that if they invest in a program, the program will be around in the future to invest in them.

E. Sports Are Part of the Community.  Sports programs are just one aspect of kids’ lives and one piece of “community” in general.  For programs to have even more impact, program administrators and coaches must recognize their role in the larger context of health, business, police, schools, churches—virtually all the players that make a neighborhood a great place to live.  Then, they must engage these community members.  From getting referrals from schools for kids who would benefit from their programs, to working with ministers to encourage parents to attend games, to partnering with the health clinic to offer free blood pressure screening at practices, sports programs have the power to transform communities.

There you have it: these are the ABCs of SBYD programs.

On my next blog, I want to go one step further: I want to talk about the specific competencies that youth sports coaches should have to be effective as youth development leaders.  These are important.  After all, survey after survey shows that next to their parents, kids look up to their coaches more than any other adults in their lives.   Coaches also need to know their ABCs.  After all, for every player they meet, they inspire not just their youth, but their lifetime.  Stay tuned…

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

Dear Professional Sports Leagues, Teams, and Associations:

“I want to play tennis.” “Yes me too!”

These comments from an African-American boy and girl from a low-income neighborhood of New York this past Saturday at the U.S. Open.

Yes, it was Arthur Ashe Kids Day, commemorating one of the world’s greatest tennis players who was also African-American.  Yet, 34 years after Ashe won the inaugural US Open, tennis still remains a sport not widely accessible to minority kids from low-income neighborhoods in New York City.  In fact, most sports are not really that accessible to kids in low-income minority neighborhoods in most cities in this country.   That's why the decision by Mercedes-Benz USA and the US Tennis Association to give Up2Us nearly 200 tickets to expose kids to the game mattered -- not just for the joy Arthur Ashe Day brought to their young lives, but to the potential these young lives bring to tennis.

At a time in which urban youth are playing less and less sports, it is critical that you, professional sports leaders, rise to the occasion and turn this unfortunate trend around. After all, you have the most powerful assets to do so—your events, your players, your staff and your facilities.

Here's a few ways in which you can inspire the next generation of athletes while at the same time tackle issues such as childhood obesity and academic failure in our nation's public schools:

1. Think about how you use your assets differently.  Don’t just give them away but leverage them to challenge youth to earn them.  Contests like “the team that has perfect school attendance gets recognized at halftime” could dramatically change drop out rates two blocks from Yankee Stadium.  Or, “the team that stands up to violence goes center court at the Bulls game” could do more to end youth violence in Chicago than the police department.
2. Make tickets available to the kids who otherwise cannot afford to attend the game.  Find a network like Up2Us in your city to help distribute them.   You will inspire kids, not just for day but maybe a lifetime.
3. Allocate a certain percentage of Jumbotron and official program ads to recognize scholar-athletes and other youth leaders in your city.  Work with the Mayors office, the public schools, Up2Us, YMCA or another local group to run contests for teams to earn this recognition.
4. Require official sponsors of your teams merchandise to allocate a minimum amount of in-kind product, equipment, and trophies to programs that serve the poorest of kids in your community.  Make this a mandated part of their sponsorship.
5. Require your athletes to spend some of their time or donate their signed paraphernalia to reward and recognize outstanding youth leaders in the community.
6. Share your stadiums, courts and arenas.  Give deserving youth teams the opportunity to play a tournament or game in your facilities.  Let youth sports organizations use your stadium suites for important meetings during daytime hours when they are otherwise empty.
7. Use halftimes and pre-game activities to recognize youth from under-served areas whose commitment to your sport will be an inspiration to your fans.
8. Consider a career day in which all of your employees, not just the players, share their skills and expertise with young developing minds.  After all, you might just inspire the next marketing director, communications specialist, trainer or GM!

These are just a few ideas. Up2Us published a report on this topic as part of the Beyond Sport Summit in 2011. We will send it to you if you contact us at center@up2us.org.

Leagues, Teams, and Associations: YOU REALLY DO HAVE THE POWER.

I know this firsthand. I saw a whole bunch of kids who never before picked up a tennis racket suddenly want to become players.

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

Let's MOVE!

MOVEments start when a group organizes to persuade the rest of society to correct a "wrong." MOVEments are often precipitated by a crisis.

MOVEments grow until they engage every sector of society.

MOVEments lead to lasting change.

Well I say, Let's MOVE!

I have written about the "wrong" already--the lack or sports and recreation opportunities facing American youth and the ease with which policy makers, education reformers, funders and schools continue to de-emphasize the value of sports versus other aspects of educational reform.  Despite the fact that most of these leaders, themselves, would point to participating in athletics as the most formative experiences in their lives.

I have written about the crisis already---let me correct that---the "crises": a rising childhood obesity epidemic, a growing epidemic of youth violence in our cities, and a high school drop out rate that should embarrass the mightiest nation on earth.

What we need to focus on now is how to engage "every sector."   Everyone of us who cares about sports must preach beyond our choir.  We must find a way to tell stories of the power of sports to lead to lasting change.   Here's the kind of stories we should shout from the roof tops:

I met a Latina Coach Across America Coach who uses sports to reduce the risk of diabetes among high-risk Latina girls.  I want doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies to hear her story.  I want the health sector to embrace the Sports-Based Youth Development Movement.

I met a Coach Across America Coach who rallies his entire community around reclaiming urban streets from violence by organizing mobile basketball courts.  I want Mayors, police, and juvenile justice workers to hear his story.  I want the law enforcement sector to embrace the Sports-Based Youth Development Movement.

I met a Coach Across America Coach who uses rowing to ensure that every single rower--despite coming from the worst performing public schools--wins a scholarship to college.  I want Board of Eds, teachers, and principals to hear her story.  I want the education community to embrace Sports-Based Youth Development Movement.

While the world is focused on the stories of the  Olympic gold, we must be sure to tell the stories of grassroots sports as well.  Through media, social media, town meetings, budget hearings, and everyday conversations.   Let's not shy away from saying "I think sports can lead to lasting change.  Just hear the story of my daughter, my son, me..."  And if you have a story, feel free to send it to Up2Us so we can share it with leaders of every sector to advocate for our movement.

I'll say it again, Let's MOVE!

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

Voices From The Field

The most important part of my job is to listen and learn from heroes. All over this country, men and women are sacrificing their time and energy to coach at-risk kids in sports.  These coaches have no money, no equipment, and no uniforms.   But they have a commitment to kids; in many cases, to kids who have been given up on.  Here's a few stories I heard in just the past few weeks:

In Miami, I met a coach who goes into the public schools and asks the principals to give him the most dangerous kids roaming those hallways.  “The kids who have been incarcerated, who everyone has given up on.”  He then plucks those kids out of the school, one by one, and takes them fishing.  That's right, he takes them fishing.   For many of these teenage males, they have never spent any quality time with an older male.  In poorer African-American communities, these kids see gangs and violence as the only way to prove their manhood.  But fishing alongside of an older male who looks just like them but chose a different path in life is all they need to see their lives differently.  "They don't even have to talk to one another," the coach told me.  "Just being in each other's presence is sometimes all it takes."   The coach told me that after a dozen years, he recently received his first donation of tackle boxes.  He's still trying to get enough fishing rods to give one to every child in the program.

In New Orleans, I met a football coach who told me how he spent a year preparing his kids to have the confidence to play in a football tournament.  "They practiced every day," the coach said, "and they committed to staying in school and staying out of trouble."  But when the tournament came, even the coach couldn't change the outcome.   "When the kids got to the field, they were in awe.  The other teams had uniforms and pads.  Our kids only had t-shirts and tennis shoes.  If you could see the defeat on their faces before the game even began. They felt that they just weren’t good enough.  They immediately turned around and got back on the bus.”   The coach is still looking for donations of uniforms.

In New York, I sat with a retired man as we watched a group of boys playing basketball.  All of the boys were from a nearby housing organization where he still sits on the board of directors.  Thanks to Coach Across America, his son was now their basketball coach.    I asked the dad what else these kids needed besides a coach.  "Trophies," he answered, "every one of them.".  He then explained:  "I can point to each of the boys on this court and tell you a story you wouldn’t believe.  Who's in an abusive home, whose brother was just sent to prison, who doesn’t get fed a decent meal, whose parent is an addict, who was sent away to live with an aunt.  Against all these odds, these boys get together every afternoon with my son and instead of joining a gang or doing drugs, they play basketball and commit to their future.  Yet, no one has ever pressed pause and given them a trophy.”  “Why?” I asked.  “Because we don’t have the money to buy them one.”

Volunteer…

Donate uniforms or equipment…

Like many of you, I still have my trophies on the wall from when I was kid.

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

20 Questions. Coach Holly. Title IX.

Last year, I was at a training where a dozen adults in attendance were each secretly given the name of an accomplished male athlete.   They were then instructed to walk around the room and play 20 Questions with one another and see how many of these athletes they could identify from amongst their peers.  At the end of ten minutes, a tally was taken to see how the group did.  Every secret athlete had been identified multiple times by multiple participants in the room. Next, the same attendants were then asked to repeat the game.  But this time, each participant was secretly given the name of a female athlete.  The female athletes were equally accomplished as the male athletes in terms of Olympic medals or championships won.  The game of 20 Questions ensued.  At the end of 10 minutes, only two of the female athletes were identified by the entire group.

Now, let's hold that thought, as I tell you about Coach Holly.

This past Friday, Coach Holly spoke to a room filled with the employees of Mercedes-Benz USA.  It was all part of a celebration of the commitment of Mercedes-Benz and the Laureus Sport For Good Foundation to support Coach Across America in cities across the nation.  Holly told the employees of how girls at the school where she coaches were being tormented by boys.  They said, "you girls shouldn't play sports.  Don't you know that girls don't make good athletes".  But her girls quickly snapped back: "That's not true.  Look at Coach Holly.  She's a great athlete."

20 Questions.  Coach Holly.   Title IX.  40 Years Later...

In case you don't know, Title IX was the landmark legislation passed 40 years ago this week that was supposed to level the playing field for girls to participate in school sports.   Despite its provisions, this past year was the first year in decades in which the number of girls playing sports has actually decreased, not increased. It's no surprise when you consider how little recognition we give to female athletes and how few schools actually benefit from a Coach Holly.  We still have a long way to go.

In the meantime, one thing we should insist upon for all coaches, male and female, is TRAINING.  That’s right, training on gender in sports.  Girls socialize, learn and acquire confidence in ways that are different than boys.  But with most coaches being male, "STOP TALKING" is often the acceptable M.O. at soccer or basketball practice.  And while that might work to control a rambunctious group of 10 year-old boys, for girls trying a new sport for the first time it might translate as "STOP PLAYING".  At Up2Us, we believe every coach needs to be trained to engage girls in developmentally appropriate manners that respect their different learning styles and increase their passion for sports.  This is not just because every girl should experience the joy of sports, it is because every girl should experience the benefits of sport.  These benefits are self-confidence, leadership skills, discipline, conflict resolution and determination.  Without them, girls may be at a disadvantage not just as athletes but as future businesspersons and world leaders.

The Up2Us Center for Sports-Based Youth Development is developing training to reach thousands of coaches in the next few years.  Our Coach Across America program is hiring and placing hundreds of women as coach-mentors to girls in urban communities.  It's just a few steps we are taking to make a more equal nation, 40 years later.  We believe in a nation in which gender simply doesn't matter on the field, on the court, or in the stadium…and it shouldn't matter the next time you play 20 Questions either.

Paul Caccamo Executive Director

Recognizing Men and Women in Uniform

It’s Fleet Week in New York.   And as you all know, we just celebrated Memorial Day weekend.  Both events remind us of the commitment of so many men and women to our nation through military service. We often think of words like “courage” and “bravery” when we describe our Armed Forces and rightfully so.   I want to propose that we extend these labels of “courage” and “bravery” to include the millions of young people who choose to spend a year serving our communities at home.  Whether a young adult chooses to join the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines, or the ranks of national service at home, they are all undertaking the same commendable decision:  the choice to serve this country.

Every week, I see and hear the stories of Coach Across America coaches who are taking a year off of their lives to inspire low-income youth by providing them safe and supervised sports activities.  Often, they are doing this service with few resources, little financial support and in high crime communities that pose a risk to their own safety.  Like the military, we expect our Coach Across America members to abide by a code of discipline, to be role models, and to impact the communities that they serve in positive ways.  As AmeriCorps members, we expect that their presence will help to bring down crime, to improve public schools, to create a healthier population and to inspire local residents in ways that can lead to their long-term community development and success.

The Coach Across America uniform is a badge of honor and those who choose to serve with this badge in the 120 communities across America deserve our praise and recognition. On national holidays like this one, let us always be grateful to the fact that we are a stronger nation because of our men and women in uniform…even when that uniform includes a whistle.

I would like to acknowledge the afternoon I spent with the legendary sports writer, Rick Telander, whose appreciation of the role of dedicated coaches and our dedicated military inspired this blog.

Paul Caccamo Executive Director