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.”

How My Swim Coaches Helped Me Become an Olympian

One of the reasons I loved swimming as a child was simply because I loved the swim coaches on my first summer team. During one particular afternoon practice, I vividly remember my first coach Sean had us all singing lyrics from a Jimmy Cliff song: “you can get it if you really want, but you must try, try and try, try and try, you’ll succeed at last” during a kicking set when it was chilly outside and most of us were in a bad mood since the water was so cold. He also sang “you’re my sunshine on a cloudy day“ to us when we didn’t want to get in the water. He was always smiling, optimistic, and playful. As an eight year old, everything was new, challenging, and exciting and I viewed my swim team as an extended family. My first coaches gave me a pure love for the sport of swimming, which opened up many doors.

Leaving my summer team to train on a year-round team was a hard decision to make at age 12. I loved my summer team and I knew I would miss the atmosphere of warm summer days spent wearing my speedo all day, hanging with my friends and goofing around with the coaching staff. But it was time for the next step and for new challenges. The transition was difficult, as we would train in the mornings before school and again after school during the winter months in an outdoor pool. It was the complete opposite of swimming in the hot afternoons in July. Swimming was no longer fun for me and I was constantly tired and always cold with wet hair. My new coaches were also difficult to adjust to, as they demanded more of me. I remember constantly getting into trouble. I was a young difficult teenager; rebellious and emotional. I would have long talks with my coach Ron about how I wanted to have a social life and how I felt like I was missing out. He was always talking to me about the bigger picture and my future, which I was unable to see at the time. I would talk back to him, challenge him, and fight with him often, yet it was through his high expectations that I grew as a young athlete. He gave me a set of lessons to build my future on; attention to detail, discipline, setting bigger goals, and developing an appreciation for my family and the strong community that we lived in. He also developed my stroke technique and my confidence in racing, which provided a solid foundation for the next level of competition that I would experience at UCLA.

I moved down to Los Angeles to study and train at UCLA, which inevitably came with a higher level of expectation. I was intimidated by the workload and was fearful I wouldn’t survive all four years training at that level while also managing my schoolwork and travel demands. Again, I was lucky to have two coaches to help guide me during those years of doubt and struggle. My coaches Greg and Cyndi gave me the faith that I needed to push past my comfort levels. After one particularly hard week, I remember calling my coach Greg crying because I was so overwhelmed with the demands of Division-1 swimming, schoolwork, and all the social distractions that came with university life. His ability to calmly listen, understand, and support me during this transition was one reason I kept going—even though I was doubting myself and my abilities. I remember he would say, “find a way” when I would be swimming slow. He set the bar higher than I set for myself and eventually, I rose up to it.

My head coach Cyndi was my source of strength that propelled me to competing at the Olympic Games. I had doubted my abilities for years, thinking I wasn’t good enough to race at that elite level. I was only 18 when I began swimming with her and was more than a handful for the first few years. She demanded the best out of us, and if I wasn’t giving 100% in workout, she would kick me out of the pool. Cyndi allowed me to make mistakes, but there were definitely consequences for my occasionally reckless behavior. There were times when I missed morning workouts because I was out  late with my friends, and once I was suspended for a week. She helped me take ownership for my actions and she taught me not to compare myself to others, which was something I had always done. She encouraged me to set personal and athletic goals, to work with UCLA’s sports psychologist and nutritionist. Cyndi gave me the opportunity to explore elements of training that I had never thought of.  She believed in my potential and nourished my self-confidence with her ability to see me as more than just a talented athlete. She was there for me outside of the pool when I was having difficulty with my parent’s divorce and breakups with boyfriends. I trusted her like family and was able to open up to her about problems in my life that would inevitably affect my performance in the water. Her strength of character gave me the courage to eventually qualify for the Olympic team and compete at the highest level of swimming.

Each of my former coaches has deeply impacted my life. There is no doubt in my mind that without all the lessons my coaches instilled in me throughout the years, I would have never become an Olympian. The power that coaches posses to positively impact and empower the lives of others is unmatched and is a such a rare gift. I was beyond blessed to have had a handful of coaches who gave me the courage and confidence to pursue my dreams and to appreciate all the opportunity in sports. Although he was never my personal coach, every UCLA Bruin learned from the great John Wooden and one of his quotes still inspires me to this day: “success is never final, failure is never fatal, it’s courage that counts.”

“I Do” vs. “I Can”: Marriage Equality and Youth Sports

This summer, Americans witnessed the highest court of the land deliver a message to LGBTQ youth that one day they too, can say “I do.” But little more than a month prior to the ruling, a rather startling survey revealed that many LGBTQ youth continued to suffer from widespread prejudice in sports settings across the nation. The levels of homophobia and discrimination in youth sports, in which the U.S. ranked worst of the six countries surveyed, suggest that the legal victory of “I do,” while important, may have little bearing on the persistent social challenges faced by LGBTQ youth in saying “I can.” By “I can,” I mean “I can play baseball.” “I can play basketball.” “I can play football.” The study looked at 9,500 LGBTQ people in 6 countries and found that 84% of gay males and 82% of lesbians were subject to verbal slurs like ‘faggot’ and ‘dyke’ while participating in sports. Half of gay men and nearly a third of lesbians hid their sexuality from their teammates for fear of rejection, and only 1% of those surveyed felt that gays and lesbians were completely accepted in youth sports.

Invariably, in every one of the situations in which discrimination occurred, there was an adult, also known as the coach, who either paid no attention or tacitly allowed these homophobic slurs to slip under their radar without intervening. The effects of these coaches’ ignorance are not just that the vast majority of LGBTQ drop out of sports because they do not feel welcomed, but also that the coach establishes a norm in which the wider umbrella of prejudice and bullying becomes acceptable to all youth, gay or straight. This is neither good for sports nor good for this nation.

Sports programs must be inclusive of all youth, and coaches must be trained to value and promote diversity and inclusion. We simply cannot afford to have any child drop out of sports based on prejudice. It is anathema to what sports represent to our society as a way to bring people together. It is also damaging to the overall process of child development. The evidence that participation in sports creates healthier and more engaged citizens is overwhelming. Boys who play sports are much less likely to drop out of school and much more likely to avoid making bad choices like joining a gang. Girls who play sports are more likely to have confidence and self-esteem, graduate from school, and avoid teenage pregnancy. The regular physical activity that comes from sports is now being linked to stress reduction, cognitive skill building and crucial brain development that contribute to children’s grit and self-worth. The case for youth sports is clear:  youth sports are critical to child development. For LGBTQ youth who experience higher rates of depression and suicide, these benefits may literally save lives.

It is critical that schools, parks and other publicly financed institutions require coaches to be certified in sports-based youth development (SBYD).   SBYD incorporates the best practices in positive youth development into coaching so that coaches know how to address issues like bullying, racism, homophobia and sexual harassment among their teams.

The results of this recent study remind me of an SBYD training conducted by Up2Us Sports in Los Angeles that involved more than 100 coaches, many of them from urban minority communities. The training provided coaches with resources and methodologies for designing practices that engage all youth; promote social interaction across race, gender, and sexual orientation; address issues of trauma; inspire health and wellness; and maximize the sports experience as one of growth, learning and fun. Upon the completion of the training, one of the coaches stood up and shared his story of being a gay man in an inner-city community in which his family, his church, and his sports team disowned him. He described a journey of feeling so isolated that he nearly dropped out of school and got involved in violence and other negative behaviors just to cover up his identity and his lack of acceptance. He concluded that it was his love of sports that eventually motivated him to turn his life around and become a coach. While he stated that he did not intend to “come out” at the training, the training enabled him to understand that his plight was shared by millions of children in this country whose silence in sports was reinforced by coaches who were never trained to speak out about prejudice and bullying. He said that only now did he realize the influence that a coach could have in making a child believe that he belonged.

It's important now more than ever that we train our coaches to step up to the plate and be the role models that their positions require. This is not a gay issue, it’s a youth development issue. Sport is the level playing field that has historically been the platform for ending prejudice and discrimination. It is important that one day when LGBTQ youth say “I do,” it's because they grew up just like any other youth who said  “I can.”

“I can play basketball.”

“I can play soccer.”

“I can play sports.”

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In 2013, Up2Us Sports and the Ben Cohen StandUP Foundation partnered to increase awareness of bullying in youth sports by creating an anti-bullying curriculum and toolkit for programs and coaches. The toolkit is built to ensure that all coaches have the awareness, knowledge, and strategies to make safe sports environments a reality. Click here learn more about the training and to access the toolkit.

 

Measuring Healthy Choice Behavior in At-Risk Youth

By School-to-School International

Up2Us Sports is encouraging undeserved youth in cities across America to make positive life choices through its Sports-Based Youth Development Program. Up2Us Sports harnesses the power of sports to ultimately reduce youth violence, promote health, and inspire academic success. School-to-School International had the opportunity to collaborate with the New York-based organization to help measure the extent to which their programming is instilling healthy choice attributes in participants.

Research has shown a correlation between certain attributes in young people and the types of life choices they make. In fact, eight “High Impact Attributes” have been isolated as key predictors of future healthy decision-making in youth: Self-Awareness, Positive Identity, Situational Awareness, Plan B Thinking, Future Focus, Discipline, Social Confidence, and Prosocial Connections. Up2Us Sports uses these eight High Impact Attributes as a scale to measure the success of its Coach Across America program.

STS assisted Up2Us Sports in producing annual surveys to study changes in youth before and after participating in Coach Across America programs. Tools for surveying youth in two different age groups were piloted. STS used widely accepted techniques of quantitative statistical analysis to analyze the pilot test results and ensure the survey design would produce reliable results. In addition to the eight High Impact Attributes, STS recommended the inclusion of a Global Well-Being1 scale, an overall predictor of social and emotional health.

We hope this work will help Up2Us Sports in establishing accurate linkages between their Sports-Based Youth Development Programs and healthy decision-making attributes in youth participants.

1. The items used in this survey are based on the well-being scale in Gallup’s publicly available survey items.

Up2Us Sports partnered with School-to-School International to increase the effectiveness of its evaluation of the Coach Across America program. The blog was originally published here on the STS blog.

Why Pope Francis Should Join My Board of Directors

Paul CaccamoFounder & CEO Up2Us Sports -

Youth sports are in desperate need of reform. Less and less kids are playing sports in America and kids from disadvantaged economic backgrounds are seeing their sports programs cut entirely. This is not just an issue of the decline of one our great pastimes, it is the loss of one of most effective tools for developing essential life skills in young people in this country.

I have spent my life not only calling for reform, but also implementing tools to carry out this reform. I launched Up2Us Sports in 2010 to train coaches on how to use sports to inspire success among youth. This means teaching coaches how they can impact health, violence and academic success using just a golf club or a tennis racket, a hockey stick or a soccer ball. In the poorest neighborhoods in this country, I also hire and train local adults as coaches to use sports to address issues of poverty. After all, kids who play sports are more likely to perform better in school and succeed in the future workplace. A recent evaluation of Up2Us Sports shows that the dollars invested in training coaches potentially saves society millions of dollars in costs associated with treating chronic diseases and/or incarcerating our youth. Both issues are preventable when youth have teams to belong to that inspire exercise and discipline.

Having spent my career in sports-based youth development, the most difficult part of my job is convincing donors that funding sports is not frivolous. It is a solution to violence prevention, health education and academic outcomes. But with a board member like the Pope, my job might just be easier.

If you haven't heard, the Pope recently gave a speech to the Pontifical Council for the Laity calling for reform in youth sports. He said that overemphasis on competitive sports have derailed the potential of sports to help lift children out of poverty. He said that training coaches is key to helping sports achieve its potential for all youth, but particularly those youth in disadvantaged communities. And he urged adults to reform youth sports so that it can be the solution that Up2us Sports envisions it to be. Okay, he didn't say "Up2Us Sports" by name but I'm sure if he knew about us he would have. And I'm sure if he read my recommendations for advancing the sports-based youth development movement, he might have included them in his pontifical lecture as well.

So Pope Francis, please consider this a standing invitation to be my Board Member. I'll schedule our first meeting during your trip to America. I'll have 3,000 trained Up2Us Sports coaches there to greet you to show that the reform you call for is underway.

And, I'll start the meeting with a prayer: that more people heed the cry for reform before more kids lose this invaluable platform to develop into healthy and contributing adults.

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.”

Up2Us Sports Founder on Why He Bikes Everywhere in NYC

-Paul Caccamo Up2Us Sports Founder & CEO

I swerve through Times Square, glide through Herald Square, pedal past the Flat Iron Building, and zoom down 5th Avenue to Washington Square Park.

I am one of those insane New Yorkers who is a biker. I bike everywhere—to work, to the gym, to the opera, to that bar in the Lower East Side. I also bike to all my funder meetings.

I often arrive windblown and, depending whether or not my chain fell off along the way, with rather embarrassing greasy fingers. But it gives the right impression; after all, I practice what I preach. At a meeting with a foundation, I may be drenched if it was raining, but I'm the most focused person in the room. That's because physical activity is essential for brain function. Not only does it keep us physically fit, but it keeps us mentally alert, focused, and on-task.

It's National Bike Month. National Bike to Work Week is May 11-15 and Bike to Work Day is May 15.  It's a great time for all of us to consider how we implement physical activity in our day-to-day life.  After all, we need to set an example for our children.  We need to advocate for getting kids moving and demand that every school guarantee at least one hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity to every student every day.

Just in New York City, bicycle commuting to and from Manhattan has more than doubled since 2005, more than tripled since 2000, and more than quintupled since 1990. Further proof that people are transitioning to biking comes from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Over half a million New Yorkers ride a bike at least several times a month. It doesn’t matter if you’re commuting to and from work/school or just taking leisurely rides on the weekends, we love to see this boost in physical activity through biking and hope to see continued upward growth. If you’re a beginner, check out this article on Time.com with tips for first-timers, and you’ll be comfortably cruising in no time.

Happy and safe biking during this month of May!

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.

External Evaluation Shows Benefits of Coach Across America Program

The American Institutes for Research (AIR) recently conducted an external data analysis to evaluate the impact of the Coach Across America (CAA) program on underserved youth nationwide during the 2013-2014 school year. According to the evaluation, youth with CAA coaches saw increases in physical activity, positive gains in relationships and decision-making and reduced their consumption of unhealthy foods. A summary of the report is available here and the full length report is available here.  

2015 Up2Us Sports Gala: Tickets on Sale Now

Join Up2Us Sports  on Wednesday, June 3rd to celebrate five years of creating change through sports and to honor Little League Star, Mo'ne Davis and her coach Steve Bandura. During this event, we will celebrate the power of youth sports coaches and for the first time, honor a military veteran as our Coach of the Year.

June 3, 2015 

Cocktail Reception  6:30PM - 9:00PM

IAC Building 555 W. 18th Street New York City

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A TICKET

Honorary Committee Sir Mick Jagger, Sarah Jessica Parker, Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Michelle Williams, Gretchen Mol, Kristin Davis

Prince Amukamara, Caitriona Balfe, Nate Berkus, Sandra Bernhard, Jeremiah Brent, Jennifer Carpenter, David Colbert, MD*,  Jill Demling, Ben Foster, Adam Glassman, Desiree Gruber, Kilian Hennessy, John Hickey, Michele Hicks, Kyle MacLachlan, Marisa Marchetto, Silvano Marchetto, Debi Mazar, Carolyn Murphy, Trond Myhr, Hayden Panettiere, Christina Ricci, Mimi Saltzman, Jeanann Williams, Robin Zendell

Host Committee Jody Bilney*, Peter Benet, Paul Caccamo, Kenneth DiPietro, Brandon Etheridge*, Angel Gallinal*, Matt Henson*, Sue Hunt*, Kevin Martinez*, Paul O'Neill, David Pace*, William Peters, Sue Portelli, Rob Ryan*, Scott Smith*, David Silbert, Conor Taniguchi, Alice Vilma, Nick Wood*

*Up2Us Sports Board Member

Sponsors

                  

More about the Event: This past year, Up2Us Sports hired eight returning veterans in a pilot program we call Operation Coach. We trained these veterans and placed them in communities where children desperately need role models to inspire them to say no to violence and yes to school. I am pleased to report that our veterans did an outstanding job. Not only did they teach principles of teamwork, discipline and perseverance to nearly 1,000 disadvantaged youth, but they also learned how to translate their sense of mission abroad to full-time jobs here at home.

Operation Coach is just the latest development as Up2Us Sports celebrates its fifth anniversary. During the last five years we have hired more than 2,000 coaches to serve nearly 275,000 disadvantaged youth across the country. Our training, which teaches coaches how to instill life lessons through sports, is the best of its kind in the nation.  And our new initiatives, like Operation Coach, are a win-win-win for young people, returning veterans and our communities.

We will honor Mo’ne Davis and her coach Steve Bandura for inspiring our nation and providing a powerful example of what a positive player-coach relationship can do, both on and off the field.  Last summer, Mo’ne, a 13-year-old from South Philadelphia, became the first African American girl to appear in the Little League World Series and the first girl in the international event’s 67-year history to earn a win and pitch a shutout. Thanks largely to the mentoring and support of Coach Bandura, Mo’ne is well on her way to attending college as a student athlete.  In the process, she captivated the entire nation and has become an inspiration to millions of young girls around the globe.

Every child in the nation deserves a trained, supportive coach like Coach Bandura, and Up2Us Sports will not stop until they all have one. On June 3, we will raise money to provide coaching jobs to hundreds of coach-mentors, including a new class of returning veterans. The enclosed reservation form details all opportunities for participation.  If you cannot attend, I hope you will support our program through an ad, sponsorship, or simply a donation.   Thank you for your support, and I look forward to seeing you on June 3.

Wonder what the event is like? Take a look at our previous galas in 2014 and 2013.

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.”

A Must Read From the Up2Us Sports Founder: We Need Our Children to Play Again

The report discusses flaws in current youth sports programs and provides 12 recommendations for integrating sports-based youth development (SBYD) into communities and youth sports programs across the U.S. SBYD is based on the premise that sports are a critical venue for supporting and encouraging the positive development of youth participants. Download the report here.

“At Up2Us Sports, we’re leading the development, training, and integration of sports-based youth development in youth sports programs across the nation,” said Caccamo. “This report is a substantial starting point for programs, schools, and parents to review and consider integrating key components of SBYD into children’s lives specifically through their involvement in sports.”

A few of the recommendations include:

• Increase diversity of youth sports

• Train all coaches in SBYD

• Reclaim places to play

• Accredit programs in SBYD

Sports-based youth development incorporates highly trained, trauma-sensitive coaches and intentional skill building activities into sports to provide youth with a place where they feel physically and emotionally safe, can get the recommended amount of physical activity, and learn high impact attributes such as resiliency, determination, and self-confidence.

Up2Us Sports works with a coalition of member organizations to build a national movement through sports in order to defeat the most pressing issues affecting today’s children, such as bullying, gang violence, family problems, lack of support, self-esteem and more.