THE WINNING TEAM: Meet Coach Beth

What does the small town of Memel, South Africa have in common with New Orleans? Her name is Beth Henkle (pictured in red) and she has left her mark in both places by using sport to affect change in the lives of underserved youth. After graduating from Bard College with a degree in Anthropology, Beth worked with a small nonprofit called SheWinS. She travelled to Memel to teach soccer as part of an after school program to 150 girls in first through seventh grades. While in South Africa, she realized her passion for using sports to make an impact in the lives of young girls. She wanted to do more and learn more, so she came back to the United States, where she found out about Up2Us Sports and Coach Across America (CAA).

In the fall of 2014, Beth started her CAA term at KIPP Central City School in New Orleans as part of a brand new initiative. Up2Us Sports placed 20 coaches in one school to facilitate a structured recess and after school sports-learning curriculum. The urban school had limited space, which was a unique challenge for the Vermont-raised Coach. Beth shared that, “in terms of managing so many kids at once and making sure [recess] stations were separate, it was hard at times. These are small things that you don’t really think about when you’re from a very rural environment and used to having large amounts of land.” They had limited access to the outdoor courtyard area, and had to use classrooms for coaching. Having 12-15 children dribbling soccer balls in a classroom around desks and chairs wasn’t always ideal, but Beth and her fellow coaches made it work.

Soccer was relatively unknown to kids in Central City, but with Beth’s influence, the KIPP students adapted and learned to love it. This was a key moment of success for her. “Soccer is not as popular here among kids as where I’m from, so it was exciting to see so many kids have their interest sparked in this great game.” Beth is also proud of her work with the young female students at KIPP. She made sure to connect with the girls that were on the periphery at recess - the ones who preferred to be gossiping or not participating or shyly standing alone. At an age where recognizing their emotions is not easy, Beth introduced them to journaling as an outlet for releasing their thoughts and feelings. At times, the girls would confide in Beth on what they wrote, even though it wasn’t required. For them, she had become not just their coach, but a mentor. One girl, Mariah, said journaling “helped her deal with some of the frustrations she was feeling in life and, in turn, is now receiving fewer deductions and staying more focused in class.”

Stories like Mariah’s have made the largest impact for Beth. “I think ultimately, this experience has just solidified what I want to do. In South Africa, I was in a very new program and there wasn’t much research behind it, it wasn’t labeled sports-based youth development (SBYD), even though that’s what we were doing. Coming here, going through [National Coach Training] Institute and realizing this is happening with so many people involved across the country—this is what I’m supposed to be doing.” Discovering that her passion has a name and a movement, with Up2Us Sports leading the way through ground-breaking research and one-of-a kind training, has inspired Beth to pursue a career in the SBYD field.

Now, a few months out from finishing her term at KIPP, Beth is back home in Vermont studying for the GRE with plans of obtaining a Masters in Public Administration (MPA). She is excited at the thought of going back to school and expanding her knowledge, but also sharing the experiences she’s had so far and spreading the message of the power of SBYD.

Beth isn’t too concerned about knowing exactly what comes after two years of school, because she knows she has found the world she was born to be in. It’s easy to hear the passion in her voice as she talks about why she loves coaching: “The thing I find the most satisfying is empowering youth to feel like they can use their voice. When a young girl really feels that she can speak up and be heard, especially in sports, they are standing up a little taller and feeling more confident. When they can say ‘we’re girls and we can do this and this is our thing and we’re strong and we’re awesome’ - helping them find that voice is what I love the most.”

THE WINNING TEAM: Meet Coach Gabriel

In the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, just eight blocks separate Chicago Youth Boxing Club (CYBC), where Coach Gabriel works, from where he lives. In a city that is home to more violent neighborhoods than any other, Little Village has experienced its fair share of violence, crime and drugs. Growing up there, Gabriel has too. But he used sports as an escape from the dangers of the streets, and now he devotes his life to ensuring that the youth living in and around those eight blocks are able to escape as well.

The former professional fighter found himself without a gym when Windy City Boxing closed its doors in 2006. When a new gym, CYBC, opened in his neighborhood, he stopped competing and started coaching. As one of Coach Across America’s first coaches, Gabriel has been a part of Up2Us Sports since the beginning. Now, sports-based youth development is ingrained in his coaching techniques. “The first year, I was nervous trying this stuff out, but now I do it and I don’t even realize it’s all the things I’ve learned over the years at [National Coach Training] Institutes,” says Gabriel.

Now, he uses lessons learned from sports to keep his kids in the ring and off the streets.  When a kid comes in with dreams of becoming a professional fighter, Gabriel encourages them to be the first person in their family to graduate from college. “I don’t mean to take away their dreams, but I want to be more realistic: I want them to be more focused on school, I want them to go to college.” Gabriel estimates that in his seven years at CYBC, over 30 kids have achieved this goal.

While CYBC is focused on the youth in the neighborhood, the entire community benefits. Instead of sneaking out of their houses and getting in trouble, the children stay home because their coaches have taught them to make better choices. These young boxers stay in school, and become friends and positive influences on one another. Most importantly, after school - between the hours of 3pm and 6pm, which is proven to be the most dangerous time for risky behavior in teens - these kids are in a safe haven with positive adult role models at CYBC. “They come in at 3pm and they’re here until 7pm or 8pm, even though a training session only lasts two hours. They just want to be here.”

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Coach Gabriel is funded by The Humana Foundation.

THE WINNING TEAM: Meet Coach Joe

From cooking to coaching golf, Coach Joe Ramirez is always bringing his best to the table. After graduating from Miami Senior High School and receiving his culinary degree from the Orlando Culinary Academy, he was ready to start a career as a chef. However, the poor economy limited his options. When an opportunity came up in his hometown to coach local kids in sports, he couldn’t turn it down. He needed a job, and as a lifelong athlete, loved the thought of coaching and giving back to the community he grew up in.

Joe serves as a Coach Across America coach at Miami-Dade Parks and Recreation, coaching SNAG golf in the after school program. SNAG - an acronym for Starting New At Golf - teaches the game of golf to people of all ages and abilities in almost any environment. Adapted programs like this are incredibly important in areas like Miami-Dade County, where golf is not an option for most youth due to their economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Joe teaches the kids that playing golf isn’t just about the game. It’s about the intangibles that come from playing the game, like resilience, discipline, self-awareness, and most importantly, social confidence. This was a critical influence in one student’s life, in particular.

Victor was in third grade, but had the learning and emotional capacity more typical of a first grader. He was extremely shy, lacking in confidence, and refused to participate. The other kids in the program did not bully him, but they also did not include him. Coach Joe had a solution. He met with the rest of the group and explained Victor’s situation to them - that he wasn’t any different from them, he just learned differently and needed their help to feel like a part of the team. By helping them understand Victor’s challenges, Coach Joe prevented the group from further excluding him. It also helped boost the team’s social confidence as they all felt empowered to speak up and play a part in helping Victor. The extra attention, not just from Joe but from his teammates, allowed Victor’s confidence in golf - and in life - to grow.

Joe credits Coach Across America and culinary school for helping him develop lessons and activities he could use to supplement those required by the SNAG curriculum. While attending an Up2Us Sports National Coach Training Institute, he was taught how to handle different situations and learned new games and strategies to help the kids understand the lessons they were learning through golf. Joe loves the similarities between cooking and coaching: “In the kitchen, the chef is the coach and his sous chefs are his players. You’re all on the same team and it takes teamwork and guidance to get everything done. As a chef, you have to keep learning which ingredients work together to make the food taste right, and as a coach you have to keep learning the different personalities of the kids and how they fit together to be successful.”

Worldwide Day of Play Hosted by Up2Us Sports, Nickelodeon, and Mayor of Miami Gardens

Up2Us Sports was proud to partner with Nickelodeon and the City of Miami Gardens to host a Worldwide Day of Play to kickoff Mayor Oliver Gilbert’s citywide fitness challenge.  Nearly 2,000 kids from summer camps across Miami-Dade and Broward County got a chance to participate in active play with Coach Across America coaches and Nickelodeon stars from Every Witch Way. Coach Across America coaches from the Miami area had kids running around, playing 4-square and tossing water balloons to stay cool.  A mix of experienced and new coaches were leading games and using coaching techniques they learned at the National Coach Training Institute.

Up2Us Sports also received a generous donation of $10,000 from Nickelodeon to continue to improve the Miami area through sports.

The Winning Team: Meet Coach Christian

For some kids, having a parent as a coach turns them away from sports. This was not the case for Christian Gutierrez, a Coach Across America coach with Woodcraft Rangers in Los Angeles. Growing up with his father as his soccer coach, Christian was able to see the positive impact his father’s coaching had not only on his life, but the lives of his teammates. This was the impetus behind Christian’s desire to become a coach himself.

Since starting as a soccer and basketball coach at Granada Middle School in his hometown of Whittier last August, Christian has flourished as a coach. In addition to teaching the kids sport-specific skills, he has become more effective in his ability to teach leadership and life skills. A fourth-grader named Jacob that Christian knew from a summer program at Woodcraft Rangers has shown impressive growth. Naturally athletic, Jacob lacked confidence in himself and in his soccer skills. Christian was able to incorporate lessons he learned from an Up2Us Sports National Coach Training Institute to help Jacob transform into a leader on the team.Through structured informal time and daily check-ins, Christian was able to get to know a lot more about Jacob, such as where he’s from and what some of his struggles are. “Talking to them when you have the opportunity really, really shows them a lot and it shows that you’re making an effort to listen to them and hear what they have to say.” Jacob grew to trust Christian and, in turn, grew the confidence to trust in his own leadership and soccer skills.

Other than following in his father’s influential footsteps, Christian’s favorite part about being a coach is seeing the kids use the skills he’s taught them. “When you teach them something at practice and then see them use that skill in a scrimmage or a game that really, really makes me feel good.” He doesn’t mean just sport skills either. He has a rule with the team - Encourage, Don’t Discourage. “When someone falls and the others don’t laugh at them and instead help them up, or if someone isn’t getting a drill and they help them throughout the drill...that really makes me happy.”

Aside from coaching, Christian attends college full time and is currently applying to work for the Los Angeles Police Department. A criminal justice major, he has already passed the physical abilities test and oral interviews. He wants to help affect change in the lives of inner city youth and sees a large connection between his passion to coach and his goal to become a police officer.

“I want to be a coach and police officer so that way I am helping my community while I am serving it.”

America SCORES Poet-Athlete Ashalyn, on Soccer and Poetry

Up2Us Sports’ member organization America SCORES combines poetry and soccer as the foundation of their youth development programming. Their three-step model has proven successful and has been replicated in more than 150 public and charter schools in 14 major cities across the country: 1 - Create teams through the sport of soccer;

2 - Bring the teams into the classroom to discover their voices through poetry;

3 - As a team they use their voices to make change in their communities.

Poet-Athletes, as participants in America SCORES programs are called, write pieces to perform poetry slam-style.  Two children from each America SCORES chapter are chosen to represent their city in the Annual America SCORES National Poetry SLAM.  Ashalyn, a 10-year old who attends P.S. 173 in Harlem was selected to represent New York City at this years slam with her poem, “Water”.  We spoke with Ashalyn about writing poetry, being a SCORES poet-athlete and participating in the National Poetry SLAM!

Up2Us Sports: How long have you been part of the America SCORES New York program here at PS 173?

Ashalyn: About a year and a half.

Up2Us Sports: What is your favorite part about it?

Ashalyn: My favorite part is that we get to play soccer, we have a lot of fun.

Up2Us Sports: What about poetry? When did you start writing poetry, and did you do it before joining SCORES?

Ashalyn: Yes, since I was little. I make up songs! When I’m writing my poems it’s like I’m making up songs.

Up2Us Sports: What’s your favorite part about writing poetry and making up songs?

Ashalyn: The rhythm—I come up with music and tunes to go with the lyrics.

Up2Us Sports: When you found out you were selected as the girl to represent SCORES New York at the National Poetry SLAM! How did you feel?

Ashalyn: Happy, excited, proud of myself and nervous.

Up2Us Sports: How many other girls did you compete against to win?

Ashalyn: More than 20, including my friends.

Up2Us Sports: What was it like representing all of SCORES New York on a national stage?

Ashalyn: It was surprising and I felt very proud of myself. I just felt nervous, because it’s ME representing America SCORES New York.

Up2Us Sports: What was your favorite part about performing on a national stage, competing against others from around the country?

Ashalyn: The group poem! We got to wear some glasses and look cool, and were like “words can change the world!” (Note: these are lyrics from their group poem.)

Up2Us Sports: What would you tell other kids - kids that you know, or might not know - who might want to try writing poetry but are too scared?

Ashalyn: Believe in themselves. I would tell them that poetry is natural, because poetry is explaining someone’s feelings or explaining something around you. Everybody can do it if you believe in yourself.

Up2Us Sports: Do you think your songwriting and poetry writing helps you in other school in other subject areas?

Ashalyn: Yes, in music, and in concentrating.

Up2Us Sports: I know America SCORES focuses on both soccer and poetry – how does soccer help you in your poetry writing…or how does your poetry writing help you in soccer?

Ashalyn: Yes, soccer helps me write poetry because, it’s like I’m saying things, when I’m writing a poem I’m just explaining my experience. When I start to write poems, I think of my soccer games, and I think of if we won. When we win, I don’t try to say “we won!” but I try to explain it in the poem.

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America SCORES, is a part of the Up2Us Sports coalition, a group of over 1,000 grassroots organizations that use sports to improve the lives of at-risk youth.

The Winning Team: Meet Coach Marc

Marc started working as a Coach Across America coach at the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in January 2015. His supervisor, Chris Reed, is the Program Manager at the Academy. They first met nine years ago through Progressive Sports and Entertainment Alliance, which is a nonprofit that teaches at-risk DC high school students the business of sport. According to Marc, "they helped me turn my life around and keep going on a straight path...I can basically say that’s my family.”

Marc, 23, grew up in the Ward 7 neighborhood with two siblings and his mother, who didn’t work. He picked up baseball at a young age because "it was a little different and easy to play.” Through baseball he learned vital life skills such as patience and focus, and it gave him the drive to want to be successful in life. He went on to graduate high school and play two years of baseball at Garrett County Community College in Maryland, before returning home to serve as a volunteer assistant coach with his high school’s baseball team for two seasons.

According to Chris, it’s hard to find quality baseball coaches in DC that not only know the game, but know the neighborhood and the challenges that the children face. So when it came to hiring Coach Across America coaches for the Academy, Chris says "it was a no-brainer” to hire Marc. "I’ve known him since he was 14 years old and he is one of the very few kids that I’ve worked with in my career that actually have a passion and a knack for playing the sport of baseball.” Equally important, Marc grew up in the same neighborhood and under the same circumstances that many of these youth face today. Sharing similar interests, and being relatable on and off the field, is what transforms a coach into a mentor, and helps him make a much bigger impact on these children that is bigger than baseball.

This past February, Marc attended an Up2Us Sports National Coach Training Institute in Chicago. The Institute teaches a session on trauma-sensitive coaching, with techniques on how to diffuse a situation once a child who has experienced trauma is triggered. Within a week, Marc was able to apply this training and calm down a child who had been triggered. He was proud to have a positive and immediate impact on this young person. Marc can now see the bigger picture of what his role as a coach can be. "It’s a whole lot easier now because I understand what we’re trying to do with the kids and their development. It’s given me a lot of help.”

Marc says coaching comes easily, almost as easy as playing baseball. He enjoys being able to help the kids grow, while keeping them out of trouble and off the streets. "Baseball is my passion and to teach it to the kids from the inner city of my home is a true blessing.”

Up2Us Salutes The Operation Coach Alpha Class For a Job Well Done

Edwin S. Vasco GonzálezProgram Manager, Operation Coach United States Marine Corps - In the summer of 2014, Up2Us launched Operation Coach, an innovative program that provides returning, post-9/11 veterans the opportunity to not only gain employment as coach-mentors, but to continue to serve as every day heroes to thousands of youth in Miami-Dade County.  The eight men and women who made up the inaugural Operation Coach class just completed their coaching term and I’d like to thank each and every one of them for their extraordinary service.  These men and women  were selected out of over one hundred applicants because they showed the motivation to better the lives of others and the determination to make a positive impact in their communities.  We asked these eight Veterans to “serve” once again. Only this time, we asked them to step out of their comfort zone—this time they would be  serving  youth in some of the poorest neighborhoods in America, using the power of sports and coaching.

From the first day of training,  the coaches showed constant progress.  Alvaro, Jay, Kleiton, Michael, Miguel, Randy, Roya, and Tanya grew exponentially over the course of their coaching term; not only as coaches, but also as valuable members of their communities. It was really rewarding to see them  realize the power they had to create a positive impact on their communities—they came together as a unit and showed themselves to be what I already knew they were--the cream of the crop.

I am extremely proud of the difference they have made. Not only in the lives of the children they worked with, but also the communities they served . They made people take notice, demonstrating that veterans are not the PTSD crew, but talented and caring professionals willing and able to effect positive change. The Operation Coach team showed that we veterans are committed, that we are fighters, and that any task we set out to do will be completed at the  highest level—because at the end of the day, nothing but our best effort is acceptable.

I could write a thousand words thanking each coach and describing how special  every single one of them  is, but I will keep it short.

Alvaro: You were profoundly involved in the lives of your fighters.

Jay: You showed a great ability to connect with your youth and prepare them for real-life situations, which immediately affected your kids because they are already young adults facing tough situations.

Kleiton: Happiness, happiness, happiness. You put smiles on kids’ faces everyday just by being there.

Michael: Your powerful relationships caused a positive turnaround in your community and your kids.

Miguel: Every day, you were doing something in your community to affect people in a positive way.

Randy: You helped a young Marine-to-be find himself as a good young man.

Roya: You were adaptable. You learned on the fly and your organization loved you for it.

Tanya: You had a powerful desire to show your girls a better path.

I hope  you all know how much I care for each and every one of you. I am honored to consider you my friends, and I hope you know that no matter what, you will always have me here to help you in whatever way I can.

Operation Coach Alpha Class, I, and everyone on the Up2Us team, commend you for a job well done.

On behalf of Operation Coach Alpha Class I would like to finish by saying “Mission Accomplished. Awaiting further orders”

Up2Us on National Mentoring Month

In 1938, more than 200 Harvard students (all men at the time) joined a research study that lasted for the next 75 years. The point of the project was to analyze how the things in our lives—work, family, friends, money, possessions—influence how happy and successful we think we are. Scientists from the university followed these men throughout their lives, checking back in with them every few years to see what they were doing, how successful and happy they felt, and what the causes of this happiness and success were (or weren’t). At the end of the project, lead researcher George Valliant was asked what he learned from the study’s decades-worth of data. It seemed, initially, that his answer might be some sort of complex scientific formula that could guide our pursuit of success and happiness moving forward. Instead, Dr. Valliant said that his research could be boiled down into a very simple phrase: “Happiness is love. Full stop.” When people were surrounded by positive relationships with others and a lot of love, they tended to feel successful and happy, regardless of how other things were going in their lives.

I think of Dr. Valliant’s work often as I travel around the country working with our Up2Us coaches. When I share his results with them, they tend to smile knowingly. The idea that love can move us forward and help make great things happen is the reason why our coaches get up every day and go to work. They are positive adults building strong, lasting relationships with young people—connections that may be constructed initially on the power of sport and physical activity, but inevitably expand to include so much more.

The start of the New Year brings many exciting things, not the least of which is National Mentoring Month, which we celebrate alongside our colleagues in the youth-serving world every January. This year, as I was reading new data from MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, I learned that 1 in 3 young people will move into their adult years without ever having a positive connection with a mentor—that is millions of young people without a teacher, coach, or other adult to help them work through the success and challenges of growing up.

As we head into 2015, we at Up2Us have a long list of things we’d like to achieve this year. At the top of that list, though, is continuing to close the mentoring gap in this country. All young people should have access to a positive, well-trained adult who cares about them and believes that they are worthy of deep, unconditional love. Dr. Valliant knew it, our Up2Us coaches know it—and they, alongside millions of other adult mentors worldwide, live it every day.

Full stop.

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Caitlin Barrett Associate Director, Coach Training & Excellence Up2Us

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.

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

Connecting Inspiring Vets With the Right Jobs

On Veterans Day, we should think deeply about what we are doing (or are not doing) as a nation to support veterans at home. According to the Army Times, unemployment for post-9/11 returning vets is 9.2 percent. This is considerably higher than the nation’s unemployment rate of 5.8 percent. More alarming, the Department of Labor states that for vets under the age of 25, the unemployment rate is 25 percent. It’s fair to say that we as a nation have been unprepared to meet the needs of the roughly 3 million young Americans who have completed their military service and returned home.

So what can we do about it? I had an idea, and it’s working. Let’s create jobs that engage veterans as leaders and problem solvers for the challenges facing youth in America. After all, veterans possess a unique set of skills from leadership, discipline and team building, to a sense of purpose and mission.

Why not employ those skills in urban parks, schools, playgrounds and nonprofits to inspire kids who need these adult role models to guide them away from violence and other negative behaviors? This year, Up2Us announced a new initiative to do just that, Operation Coach.

Operation Coach engages returning veterans as paid youth sports coaches in underserved communities throughout Miami. Through a partnership with the Miami Heat, Laureus USA and Mercedes-Benz USA, Up2Us hired, trained and placed eight veterans to work with almost 750 at-risk youth. Not only did the youth gravitate to the presence of these war heroes in their parks and playgrounds, but the veterans found that being a coach helped them more easily transition into domestic life.

Here are a couple of their stories:

Former Marine Sgt. Alvaro J. Ayala, currently teaches and coaches martial arts classes at an Up2Us member organization called Outside The Ring Champion. Alvaro grew up in Nicaragua and moved to Miami at the age of 12. After high school, he enrolled at Harding University, where he played soccer for a year before enlisting in the Marine Corps. Alvaro became a Sergeant Marine Embassy security guard and served in many parts of the world during his 51/2 years of military service. Upon his honorable discharge, Alvaro returned to Miami to continue his education and is currently enrolled in Florida International University while serving in Operation Coach.

“I didn’t want to be anything else,” said Alvaro. “I realized that being a coach is what makes me happy. That I really enjoy it regardless of how much money I’m being paid, so I decided to go for it as a career.”

Alvaro’s desire to make a difference in the lives of kids has provided him with a renewed sense of purpose and motivation to succeed.

Another success story is Kleiton V. Almeida, a former Petty Officer Third Class in the Navy. Kleiton currently works at an Up2Us member organization that is a public school that services six homeless shelters in Miami. He was born and raised in Brazil. During this time, he fell in love with sports and, in particular, soccer. When Kleiton moved to Miami as a teen, his passion for soccer continued and his desire to give back was born. He went on to enlist in the Navy.

He was an accomplished boatswain mate earning a Navy and Marine Corps achievement medal for his contributions as a master helmsman.

He served honorably and was deployed to the Persian Gulf during operation Iraqi Freedom.

Upon his discharge, Kleiton faced challenges transitioning into mainstream society, but he continued his studies in physical education as he promised his mother he would do before serving in the military. In May, he graduated with a physical education degree from FIU. His unique blend of compassion and discipline has earned him praise from the Eneida M. Hartner Elementary School principal and staff where he serves in Operation Coach, and his kids love him!

“I came at them with discipline,” said Kleiton. “But at the same time, I came at them with the attitude of: I’m here for you and I’m here to help you, so if you need anything you can come and talk to me. You can come see me and I will do my best to help you.”

These are just two stories that illustrate the way in which returning veterans can use their unique skills and knowledge to improve the lives of the nation’s youth, and the communities in which they live.

This Veterans Day, let’s remember those who have served our country abroad and honor their service by creating meaningful employment opportunities for them back home.

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This piece was also published in the Miami Herald and The Hill.