Training Director, Up2U Sports

>> My name is Caitlin Barrett. I am the director of training for Up To Us Sports and Up To Us Sports is a nonprofit coalition of organizations that seek to get all young people, especially those in underserved communities that don't tend to get everything that they need involved in sports and physical activity. So as director of training, I get the really awesome opportunity to work with individual organizations who want to make sure that their coaches are trained in the best way possible, both to teach sport skills, but also to teach life skills and to teach them in a way that's really connected. So I get to work with organizations to identify their goals and their desired outcomes. You know, where their coaches are and where they want them to be. But also, you know, the things that their young people bring to the table, the amazing assets that the kids bring. The sports that they like. You know, what they might be really excited about, and also the challenges they face, maybe in their communities or in their schools. So I get a sense of what coaches will need to support both on the field and off. And then we work with them to identify and this is the content that we think will be helpful for your coaches, starting from the very basics. How do you link sport and life skills and moving all the way through some pretty advanced content. We started piloting, a trauma sensitive coach program, because so many of the young people in our program are facing community trauma, like violence, poverty, food insecurity. And so we're making sure the coaches are ready to go with kind of all of the both the beginner issues, but also the more advanced issues as well. And so at the end of all that I actually get to go and facilitate trainings for coaches and get them thinking about, you know, how they can teach their sport, but also help young people develop really powerful skills for off the field or off the court.