Junior Coaches Find a Place in the Community and Summer Jobs
Sport in Society�s Junior Coaches Academy provides Boston teens with life skills and summer jobs
(4-9-07) Boston, Mass. - With growing crime rates and limited options for teens in Boston, the Center for the Study of Sport in Society�s Urban Youth Sports (UYS) program has developed a welcome alternative in its Junior Coaches Academy (JCA).
The academy is an innovative new program that provides unique sports leadership opportunities for high school aged youth. Currently, more than 30 teens from across Boston are enrolled. Instructors equip the young leaders with personal development and sport-specific mentor training in order to help them develop into highly skilled and productive employees in their neighborhood youth programs. Upon completion all participants are guaranteed summer employment.
The first of two training sessions, held during February school vacation, focused on leadership, conflict resolution, violence prevention, and diversity. The second session, which will be held on April 17-20 from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at Northeastern University, will center on team building, sport-specific skills, and practice sessions. Workshops mirror the values of Sport in Society by advocating life skills topics such as leadership, conflict resolution, diversity, violence prevention, team building, sport-specific skills, and practice sessions.
�Ultimately the students are working toward developing necessary coaching skills that will create job possibilities, especially in the summer months,� said Tracey Britton, JCA program founder and manager of Sport in Society�s UYS program. �With the help of the City of Boston, by offering service possibilities to trainees, we are teaching urban youth values and life skills through sport.�
As a key component of their training, JCA participants are also required to carry out a service-learning project in which they work together on one joint civic engagement activity. This year, junior coaches are collaborating with the Special Olympics of Massachusetts (SOMA) and Boston Public Schools, helping to organize and run an annual �Special Olympics School Days� event.
�We want the students to take charge of the sports culture in their community,� said Britton.
About the Center for the Study of Sport in Society
The Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University is the world�s leading social justice organization that uses sport to create social change both nationally and internationally. The flagship organization located in the heart of Boston, Mass. was founded in 1984 by Dr. Richard Lapchick and touts a branch in Baltimore, Md. Through research, education, and advocacy the center promotes physical activity, health, violence prevention, and diversity among young people and college and professional athletes. Sport in Society�s innovative programs are all staffed by former college or professional athletes and have been awarded America�s most successful violence prevention program by Lou Harris, the Peter F. Drucker Award as the most innovative non-profit program in the social sector, and have been cited as the National Crime Prevention Council�s 50 Best Strategies to Prevent Violent Domestic Crimes. For more information please visit http://www.sportinsociety.org.
