The state of youth sports is something that looms large for me, especially given the ability of sports to help promote well-being, character, and academic success. That’s why I’ve been intrigued by Up2Us Sports, a grassroots national service organization that is trying to extend the impact of sports. The only national service program of its type, the organization reports that it’s trained 31,000 coaches since being launched in 2010. I recently had a chance to chat with Paul Caccamo, the founder and CEO, about the group’s work. Here’s what he had to say.

—Rick

Rick: First off, what is Up2Us Sports?

Paul: Up2Us Sports is the only national service program that recruits young adults to be coaches and mentors for youth in underserved communities. Our coaches are trained extensively on how to use sports to inspire the health and well-being of the next generation of Americans. Our formula is simple and effective: Coaches are well-positioned to help at-risk youth make better decisions on and off the field. We have also become one of the nation’s largest providers of coach training, which focuses on translating sports skills into life skills. Since we started in 2010, we have placed more than 4,000 coaches in more than 200 urban communities.

Rick: Why do you think sports matters so much?

Paul: When I worked as a teacher, it wasn’t long before I realized how many at-risk kids had “checked out” of school and life because of the challenges they confronted on a regular basis. But then I noticed something else: Kids who played sports often remained focused and involved. They cited their coach as an adult who cared about them and expected them to stay in school and succeed in life. That was my “aha” moment. That’s when it dawned on me that coaches weren’t just athletic instructors, they were some of the most powerful mentors in kids’ lives. They could influence kids to make positive decisions that have huge consequences for their futures. Sports matters for a number of reasons, but for me the most important is that sports is a vehicle for providing these powerful mentors to kids.

Rick: Can you talk about how the programming works?

Paul: The most important thing we do is revive sports in underserved communities and use them as opportunities to push kids to believe in their potential on and off the field. This process comes down to recruiting coaches to deliver sports programs year-round in schools, parks, and nonprofits. Our coaches are recruited from the same communities they serve and coach a wide range of sports, from basketball to rowing. Coaches receive a stipend for their service and ongoing training to help them become effective mentors. Our national service programs, Up2Us Coach and Up2Us VISTA, are funded by AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism. We also rely on corporate sponsors and local foundations to match our government funding, which ensures our programs are free for all youth participants.

Rick: How’d you get involved in this work?

Paul: I actually never played a ton of sports growing up. I got involved in this work from an educational perspective rather than an athletic one. Early in my career, I noticed that schools struggled to keep kids engaged. At the same time, schools were also cutting their sports programs. It seemed counterproductive to me. Why would you cut the programs that made kids feel most connected to their school and each other? That’s when I decided to do something about it. I read about Teach For America bringing teachers to schools and I decided to launch Up2Us Sports to do the same with coaches. The rest is history. For me, it was never really about sports: It was about education and youth development. I just recognized sports as a powerful pathway for getting there.

Rick: What do you say to those who suggest that sports is a distraction—that we need to focus on academics, counseling, and more structured supports?

Paul: I would start by saying that we can focus all we want on educational reforms, but if a child isn’t ready to learn in that classroom, those efforts will fail. Being ready to learn means feeling safe, connected, and mentally focused. That feeling does not necessarily come from a math teacher, an academic counselor, or a school therapist. It comes from activities like sports that are led by trained coaches who help kids make friends, regulate their stress, and feel that they belong to their academic institution.

Rick: A lot of coaches don’t necessarily have a lot of preparation for this role. Who are your coaches, and how do you all go about preparing and supporting them?

Paul: At Up2Us Sports, we recruit most of our coaches from the same communities they serve. When student-athletes see a coach who looks like them and shares their background, they are more likely to trust that coach as a mentor. Our coaches also view these opportunities as a chance to become leaders and develop valuable job skills. In fact, most of our coaches go on to work in youth development in their communities after they finish their service year with us. Once recruited, our coaches complete a year’s worth of training that fosters their coaching skills. They are also assigned a program staff who supports them through ongoing training, site visits, coach socials, and recognition of their accomplishments in coaching.

Rick: As you know, there are plenty of those who think sports are fine but worry that competition creates unhealthy dynamics. What’s your view on that tension?

Paul: I think competition is key to both sports and life. The question is not whether competition is unhealthy; rather, it’s whether a coaching style fosters unhealthy competition. We know that kids who get stressed out and are not having fun drop out of sports at alarming rates. I would say that is squarely the fault of the coach and not the dynamics of the game. It is the coach’s responsibility to use competition as yet another life lesson. They can do this by, for example, applauding their athletes for how well they manage stress in a tight game rather than denigrating an athlete for missing that final shot.

Rick: I’ve long been troubled by the number of schools that have banned dodgeball, touch football at recess, and other activities that they’ve labeled unsafe. What do you make of all this?

Paul: I get it. Childhood is filled with a lot of activities that are being deemed unsafe, and we can’t regulate all of them. Take it from me, I grew up with six brothers and we got in a lot of fights! Still, I share some concerns that kids, especially in underserved communities, might not have access to appropriate equipment for certain contact sports that ensures their safety from brain and other types of injuries. But keep in mind that my life focus is on a different aspect of sports that I think can be equally damaging: Too many coaches get away with screaming at kids and degrading their senses of self-confidence and self-worth in the process. Bad coaching leads to kids dropping out of sports, and that has catastrophic consequences for their long-term physical and mental health.

Rick: What you’re talking about sounds a lot like what’s often encouraged under the umbrella of social and emotional learning, or SEL. How do you think about any similarities or differences? And how do you avoid getting caught up in the larger political tensions surrounding SEL?

Paul: I really am agnostic about what we, as a society, call life-skills development among young people. All I know is that sports is one of the greatest activities that fosters positive character traits. Wherever you stand politically, if you played sports, you probably agree with that statement. So whether it’s SEL, life-skills development, or nurturing hope in our young people, we can all agree that we need to surround young people with activities that help them achieve their potential. So, yes, in some communities, we are an SEL program. In others, we foster the hope and potential of youth. And in others, we just help kids get excited about going to school. But in all communities, we believe it’s important not to politicize sports in order to prevent kids from experiencing all of its benefits.

Rick: You’re mostly in urban areas today. But it’s also been widely noted that rural communities suffer from many of these same challenges. Do you have any plans to stretch into more rural communities?

Paul: I’m glad you reemphasized this need. I often talk to representatives of rural communities about how critical it is to bring our coaching program to their parks and schools. I find it unfortunate that many of the more sustainable funding sources for programs like ours are geared toward urban areas. My goal is to find the right partners and donors to pilot rural expansion. There will be some unique challenges like transportation—not to mention recruiting a whole new demographic of coaches—but I think the benefits of more accessible sports in rural communities will outweigh the costs. The key to all of this will be finding local schools, parks, nonprofits, and government agencies that will work with us to ensure our approach is built on local talent and resources and not seen as an intervention by outsiders.

Rick: If you have one tip for educators wondering about how to better tap the power of sports in schools and communities, what would it be?

Paul: Train your coaches on how to deliver the shared vision that we all have: Kids need to succeed in school, make positive decisions in their communities, and achieve their potential in life. Coaches can be some of your best messengers to make that happen.