What makes a community? A community is a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. Through partnership and collaboration, Up2Us Sports and Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative (PYSC) are using direct service to coach underprivileged youth. Launched in 2016 by Executive Director Beth Devine, PYSC has been a pillar of the Philadelphia community for eight years. As one of the leaders of the sports-based youth development (SBYD) movement, PYSC’s goal is to use sports to teach life skills and is delivered by trained coaches and mentors.
PYSC supports local SBYD organizations by convening a diversity of stakeholders to align a citywide effort to provide high-quality sports experiences for all of Philadelphia’s young people. Recently, the Collaborative has hosted such events as the Women in Sports Summit, State of Soccer: A Conversation with the Philly Soccer Community (and drafted a subsequent "State of Soccer'' report), and various trainings for local SBYD coaches and administrators on topics such as "SBYD 101," "Mandated Reporter Training," and a First Aid/CPR/AED certification course. Coaches are the key to the success of sports-based youth development programs. The relationships they build with youth, and the approach they take with their programs are what drives positive outcomes for youth.
The mission of PYSC is to expand and improve the delivery of youth sports in the city of Philadelphia. They are about to do that with a complete focus on equitable access for all children to high-quality sports-based youth development programs in their own schools and neighborhoods. In their own words, The Collaborative serves the SBYD ecosystem in Philadelphia in the role of an intermediary that provides technical and capacity-building services to organizations that directly serve youth. The Collaborative also serves as a backbone organization that convenes a diversity of stakeholders to align a citywide effort to provide high-quality sports experiences for all of Philadelphia’s young people.
In an effort to increase capacity and support coaches serving at various parks & rec sites across the city, PYSC partnered with Up2Us Sports to place 10 Up2Us Sports coaches (coaching between 6-15 hours/week) at five recreation centers in North Philly. Those recreation centers are Simpson, Waterview, Martin Luther King Jr, Mader, and Grover Washington Jr. Middle School. To date, these coaches have served approximately 300 kids playing basketball, baseball, softball, boxing, flag football and exploring the performance arts through dance. According to Dontae Privette, the Director of Community Engagement at PYSC, “In Philly, it starts at 20% of our kids being active 60 minutes a day. This is the CDC recommended level of activity. In order to increase the amount of kids that go out into their neighborhood and play, we need caring and consistent adults out there. Coaches are the #1 reason why kids decide to join a program, stay in a program, or leave a program.”
One of the biggest highlights to date has been the excellent work of the Up2Us Sports coaches at Simpson Rec Center. Leveraging the tools and resources from Up2Us Sports, including training content, additional support, and compensation for time, has enabled them to expand programming. The Up2Us Sports coaches have helped to add drop-in basketball programming, the "Itsy Bitsy Spiders'' introductory basketball program for youth ages 4-7, and "Friday Night Lights'' youth baseball, made possible through partnership with fellow PSYC member organization The On Deck Circle.
The partnership between Up2Us Sports and PYSC has been generously supported by the Rec Directors at the five locations, and plans are currently being developed to expand the number of Up2Us Sports coaches serving with PYSC in the fall of 2024.
