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Participating in youth sports helps children stay healthy and improves their chances of success in school and in life. Team-Up for Youth is working to level the playing field so that more children and girls living in underserved communities have the opportunity to get in the game.
The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund launched Team-Up for Youth in 1999 and has since awarded more than $10.7 million to the program. “We want all children to experience the life lessons and teaching moments that come from participating in youth sports and having a caring coach as mentor,” said Haas, Jr. Fund Chair Walter J. Haas, who also serves as chair of Team-Up for Youth.
Team-Up for Youth’s signature program is the Coaching Corps, which partners with colleges and universities, volunteer centers, and after-school sports programs to recruit, train, and place college students and community members as coaches in youth sports programs.
Victor Delgado, a student at San Jose State University, works for the Coaching Corps as a volunteer basketball coach at the East Valley YMCA. Growing up without a father in his life, Victor turned to sports as an outlet and as a means of finding male role models. Now, he is enjoying providing the same opportunities to other children from low-income backgrounds. “Every time I go in to coach a practice I know I have the opportunity to inspire someone’s life and it is this that drives me to coach more,” he said.
To date, Team-Up for Youth has trained and placed more than 1,500 Coaching Corps volunteer coaches in youth sports programs; 60 percent of these coaches are women. And Coaching Corps is growing. Through grants and partnerships with the Americorps and VISTA programs, Coaching Corps is expanding its reach from the Bay Area to a statewide program that will reach almost 5,000 children throughout California over a three-year period.
In addition to training and placing coaches, Team-Up for Youth sponsors an array of special initiatives and provides grants to expand and improve youth sports programs. The organization also works to educate policymakers and the general public about the benefits of sports for young people- particularly those most often left on the sidelines- and about steps that governments and communities can take to expand sports opportunities in low-income communities.
Team-Up for Youth has been recognized nationally and internationally as a model program for expanding access to high-quality youth sports. In 2009, its Team-Up for Girls Initiative was honored with the “Change the Game for Women in Sports” award from Ashoka/Nike Changemakers.
“Team-Up believes that all kids deserve the opportunity to develop healthy bodies, sharp minds and strong spirits,” said the organization’s executive director, Janet Carter.
