KING is excited to announce that we have been awarded the 2018-2019 Heisman Trophy Trust grant through the New York Community Trust. While the name Heisman is typically synonymous with college football, the Heisman Trophy Trust is dedicated to supporting amateur athletes and their goals on and off the playing field. The trust states, “our goal through these charitable endeavors is for the Heisman Trophy to symbolize the fostering of a sense of community responsibility and service to our youth, especially those disadvantaged or with special needs.”

This fall will be the first season implementing academic and life skill programming into our competitive travel teams. Beyond our players receiving the highest quality sports coaching, we will be providing academic support, test prep courses, admissions guidance and life skill seminars that will prepare them for life outside of sport. The program will cater to each individual student-athlete and consider their personal career, sport and life goals.

KING is lucky to have a network of volunteers that include former Division I, II and III athletes and coaches that understand the dedication it takes to be a successful student athlete. As their own athletic careers came to an end, our volunteers and mentors have transitioned to successful careers in fields ranging from finance, advertising, entrepreneurship, education, etc. Paired with our volunteers, the grant will also allow us to hire a professional tutoring service that will provide the highest quality services to our kids.

KING as a whole organization continues to evolve and grow, our dedication to support each and every one of our kids to reach their goals is unwavering. Thanks to our new partnership with the Heisman Trophy and New York Community Trusts we will be able to continue and enhance our mission.

Our KING Hoops basketball program had the opportunity to participate in the UBS NextGen Leaders program through our good friends over at Laureus USA. The NextGen Leaders program aims to increase college and career success for first-generation students and advance intergenerational economic mobility through bachelor’s degree attainment.

Our kids were put through the Hire Power curriculum that guided them through the power of storytelling, particularly in the interview process. By using this curriculum, our kids with the UBS volunteers practiced their communication skills and developed a strong portfolio of stories appropriate for a workplace setting. The players then got the chance to practice their storytelling in both a group setting and in mock interviews.

KING Hoops and all our Kids in the Game programs value inclusivity and diversity amongst our kids. By nature of growing up in New York City, all our kids have unique stories to tell, and as they are beginning their college and first job application processes, this event was the perfect exercise to refine their communication skills without losing their unique story.

Big thank you to Laureus for allowing our guys to participate in the great event put on by UBS. These are the types of events that help our basketball program stand out from the others in the NYC scene.

Kids in the Game is excited to announce the launch of our brand new podcast “Behind the Game”! The podcast will cover the intersection of youth development, sports, education, and technology in the New York City landscape. You will be hearing from the likes of principals, executive directors, coaches, teachers, and other change makers that are all working towards building a better city for our youth. With more than 1 million students in New York City, we want to help families, schools, and organizations learn to navigate the complex ecosystem we live and breath.

Last week we recorded our very first podcast with guest Ben Schornack. Ben got his start on the world of NYC youth development with Kids in the Game as our very first program coordinator. Since then he has been with Up2Us Sports and is currently a program manager with the Laureus Sport for Good USA Foundation. Laureus recently launched it’s Sport for Good NYC initiative — a long-term commitment to improving the lives of underserved youth in the five boroughs of New York City through the power of sport. The initiative will bring together nonprofit leaders by providing resources and facilitating collaboration. Ben mentions in the podcast that New York is full of organizations doing great work, but it is also full of funders and by working together we can tap into more funding sources to improve and provide even more programming. KING’s Wilson Rose is sitting on the leadership team for the initiative and we are excited to work with Laureus and Ben on this project.

Throughout the podcast, led by KING Hoops Director Paul O’Connor and KING Founder Michael Murphy, Ben details the changes he has seen in funding youth sport programs and the direction the industry is headed. The group also spends time talking about coaches that have impacted them and how important the role of a coach is. The podcast ends with a lightening round of questions and more Iowa basketball trivia than you ever thought you would need to know! Check out the link to listen and subscribe as we continue to bring leaders in the community onto “Behind the Game”!

Paul O’Connor, our director of KING Hoops program, recently attended the Jr. Knicks Youth Basketball Leadership conference. The event had the likes of Allan Houston, Kym Winter, Tiffany Chag, Don Showalter among other leaders in the basketball world. Topics ranged from how to keep athletes safe and the benefits of raising multi-sport athletes. Coach Paul came away from the event with a breadth of knowledge but also knowing that there is still a ton of work to do in the youth basketball arena. Here are some thoughts and questions Coach Paul had on the event and where basketball is headed for kids growing up in New York City.

At the Jr. Knicks event there was one question raised that stuck with me… How can organizations like the Jr. Knicks and USA Basketball have a greater effect on youth basketball?

The question alone doesn’t seem complicated. But as we all know or grow to learn, nothing about youth sports in New York City is uncomplicated. Between a seemingly unlimited market and “coaches” on every corner, navigating the youth basketball scene can be tough. I see two main issues that arise and that the Jr. Knicks and USA Basketball can have a hand in improving.

Issue #1 — Players jumping from team to team throughout the year.

I have seen kids in the 6th grade play for 3+ AAU teams in one season. I don’t see this to be in the child’s benefit. First off, the player simply cannot commit to 3+ programs and make all practices/games/etc. This also leads to distrust amongst the other players on the team. The players who are committed to one team start to learn how to play together and don’t gel with the players who are in and out. As a coach and director, it makes it very hard to teach them your beliefs, techniques, and overall organization mission. The biggest problem in my opinion is the lack of ability to keep players accountable. If a coach disciplines a player and that player doesn’t like it they can simply go play for another team the next day. This is a dangerous lesson that will hurt our children in the long run.

Solution — Adopt the GEVA Volleyball rules for committing to a program, see here:

USA Volleyball prohibits player transfers from club to club, which is necessary to protect players, their teammates, and their clubs. In choosing a club, carefully consider your goals with potential clubs’ emphasis on elite teams versus developmental, teams offered, cost, practice quantity and quality, number of coaches and their qualifications, distance to tournaments, length of the season, playing time, and tournament schedule.

Tryouts are during the same time period for volleyball — Please remember that once you have made a binding commitment to a club, you are committed to them for the season. They have reserved a spot on a team (possibly turning away another athlete) and you have committed to meeting your obligations per the club’s offer letter. Failure to meet a contractually obligated financial commitment to a club will mean that you can’t register to play for any USAV club the following season(s).

Implementing this would completely solve the issue of playing for multiple teams and help organizations and the kids we serve tremendously. It would raise accountability of our kids, parents, coaches and administrators.

Issue #2 — Anyone is a qualified coach.

This topic was raised by Don Showalter at the event and he made a great point. The term “Coach” is sacred and means a great deal. With the rise in social media and organizations popping up in every gym, almost anyone can be called coach nowadays. There is no standardized process that people have to go through to become a coach, making the difference in the level of coaching from organization to organization easily visible if you attend AAU tournaments. Don compared it to other industries, mentioning that they all have processes, standards, protocol. Why would basketball be any different? To become anything of significance is strenuous and includes multiple steps, something that coaching should not lack. USA Basketball offers an online course to become certified but even that is not enough. This is where organizations like Jr. NBA, Jr. Knicks, USA Basketball need to come together and create standards and requirements that coaches and organizations would need to meet in order to become certified.

Improvements do not happen over night and I would certainly like to continue this discussion with NYC youth basketball organizations and coaches to see how we can try and improve our players experiences.

To check out Coach Paul and KING Hoops in action at our Tuesday Night Middle School Clinics. Workouts are held from 6-7:15pm at Corpus Christi School 533 W. 121st St. New York, NY 10027 and our $15 per session or $100 for the remaining 7 sessions. Register here!

It isn’t easy to summarize a year at Kids in the Game – there are so many small victories that go unseen with the children we work with. Measuring confidence, friendships, perseverance, and just plain fun are not always possible. However, we close out 2017 knowing that those are the wins that we are most proud of. Our organization’s purpose is to change the way New York City children are growing up and this year was a huge step towards reaching our goals. Reading through our 2015 and 2016 reviews, we continue to make tremendous progress and find ourselves more and more excited about what is yet to come. Here are some of the highlights from the year and what you can expect to see from KING in 2018:

1. We continue to expand and serve more schools and families across Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx – we worked with over 16,000 children this year across summer camps, school programming, and our travel teams. Our team has approached ~100 talented coaches, yet we still feel like a family in our approach.

2. We had our best summer yet! Our 4 summer camps served ~700 families from June to August as we continued to add new and creative programming for the kids. We had an emphasis on improving our swimming program, adding lessons and better facilities. There was also more interaction between our camps, as we had days that our older camps went to other sites to meet new friends and have some healthy competition. We had fun building out our theme weeks (ie Camp Olympics, Through the Decades, Spirit Week, Superhero Week, etc) and have some creative ideas for 2018 in the works. Our newest location was opened in Park Slope, and look forward to announcing our 5th location for 2018 here shortly!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvGsjrPjuiI

3. Although we have a team full of active, energetic, sports lovers, we also consciously opened our mind in 2017 to how technology can enhance what we do. We grew our partnership with CodingKidz, providing after-school and summer camp programs in Robotics, Coding, and Video Game Design, as well as made November ‘Sports Technology’ month across all our schools. Our kids collectively walked to Australia in November (measured by our Fitbits), we had SportsTechie cover our Virtual Reality event at Corpus Christi School, and started meeting as a team to talk about other technology and innovation that will help engage more children and enhance our sports programs. It certainly won’t replace what we do at the core, but always looking for ways to improve!

4. Our travel teams continued to make us oh so proud. KING Hoops had 5 teams playing this fall between middle school and high school, with kids coming from many of our schools and communities we work in throughout the year. We won our first tournament this year in Connecticut, and almost all age groups made tournament runs more regularly. Winning isn’t everything, but we’re a competitive group! KING Spikes, our volleyball program, continued to grow and is primed for a big year in 2018. We launched KING Speed, our track and field program, led by Suzie Clinchy who joined our team this year. We are so proud of the programs we’ve run in schools (PS 188M, Blessed Sacrament, Rebecca School, Leman Manhattan) and of our kids that are starting to run in competitive meets around the city. We take a lot of pride in wearing KING on our jersey and the way our players represent us and continue to grow.

5. Furthering our mission to reach all children in NYC, our non-profit KING Kids has made tremendous progress in bridging the opportunity gap. In our first full year of operation, we were humbled by the amount of support and empathy people have for making sure all schools and families have access to positive coaches and opportunities to play sports. We built a junior board of talented young professionals that have helped us drive the movement and fundraise for scholarships and new programming. Our team hosted our first large fundraising event, a 3 on 3 tournament at St Francis, with over 20 teams. We ran our first corporate volunteer day with VML Foundation, donating sports equipment to 3 public schools across Harlem and the Bronx. We’ve added life skills workshops and academic support opportunities for all our travel teams. We built a website. Tons of good work, and the best part is that we are just getting started! So much to do in 2018 in our community and we appreciate everyone’s willingness to help our cause!

6. Not always apparent to our families or schools, but we have turned inward to make staff development and training a top priority as an organization. Both personal and professional development is a big part of working at KING, which ultimately helps us grow together and run better and better programs in the community. That will continue to be the case in 2018!

Our team continues to believe in the power of sports and positive coaching to help kids grow. Although not something we typically share with our following, our internal core values are what continues to drive our decision making and what we truly believe in while we work with youth. We wanted to share them with you below to give you some insight into what we are all about and our team’s daily focus as we continue strengthening our programs.

1. Radiate positivity and a family spirit
2. Lead by example through healthy habits
3. Embrace individual strengths and diverse backgrounds
4. Present solutions, not problems
5. Be resourceful and creative – do more with less
6. Constant pursuit of personal growth and learning
7. See the big picture
8. Be a world-class communicator
9. Work as a team, play as a team, grow as a team
10. Strive to always be the best part of our kids’ day

Thank you to everyone that has made 2017 such a year to remember. The support we get from principals, parents, coaches, partners, friends, and family is what keeps us energized and healthy. More to come from KING!

Mount-Carmel Holy Rosary or better known in our office as MCHR is a PreK-3 through 8th grade school in East Harlem. KING currently runs the after-school program at MCHR led by our fearless program manager Tracey Lewis. MCHR is a member of the Partnership School Organization and arguably has the cutest school uniforms of all time. Along with the uniform cred, MCHR has been shining in the after-school game as well. Here are some highlights and shoutouts that you need to know about:

1) Program Highlight:
PreK Chess Club: Yes you read that correctly, at MCHR the PreK kids are better at chess than (more than?) half our staff. Chess club is just one of the extracurricular activities offered at MCHR, others include homework help, STEM projects, and sports activities.

2) Kid Highlight:
Mayalee is a kindergarten student at MCHR. She is an active participant in all after school activities and was an easy choice for KING Kid of the month. Mayalee takes working on her homework very seriously and always asks great questions when she needs help. Her math and reading skills have improved tremendously because of her eagerness to learn. Keep up the great work Mayalee, we love seeing that smile everyday at MCHR!

Scarlet is a Pre-K student at MCHR. A few words her coaches use to describe her are: listener, hard worker, compassionate and kind friend… those are some awesome words! She demonstrates genuine love and kindness to everyone whom she interacts. We are so grateful that we get to work with Scarlet and watch her grow up as a Kid in the Game. You are a role model Scarlet!

3) Staff Highlight:
This Staff Rocks! Our staff at MCHR is a wonderful group of coaches that love spending a part of their day at this school. Laughter and learning fill the air between structured dance routines, art projects, and sports games. The bond between our coaches and the after-school students at MCHR is undeniably strong and we know that our coaches gain just as much from the students as they do from yes. We are very grateful for the partnership with MCHR. Thank you coaches for all your hard work!

4) UNICEF Kid Power Update:
In January we started the UNICEF Kid Power Training Program with MCHR 4th-8th graders in the after-school program.(need a reminder of what this is? Click here!) Since starting the program the kids at MCHR have taken over 197,000 steps, earned over 3,800 power points, and donated 382 food packets to underdeveloped countries. Let’s keep cheering them on… keep on stepping, skipping, running, and playing!

Valentine’s Day is the time to reflect on all the things we love in life. At Kids in the Game, our love for sports is pretty darn high on that list. Between summer camps, sports clinics, travel teams and school programs, we feel super lucky to be immersed in sports on a daily basis. To celebrate today’s day of love we wanted to share some stories of why our coaches love sports not only today but everyday.

Michael Murphy- Kids in the Game Co-Founder

Why do I love sports? Let me count the ways….I love sports for all the amazing doors they have opened for me in my life. Playing sports have allowed me to travel the World, make new friends and experience new cultures. I have run a road race in Sweden. Played basketball in Fiji and Australia. Coached basketball in Belgium, France and The Netherlands. Played soccer with kids in Denmark. And most recently experienced shooting hoops while wearing flip-flops in The Philippines. All of this because of a bouncing ball and a desire to have fun playing the sports I love. I love sports for everything they have taught me about teamwork, leadership, community, hard work, the pursuit of excellence and achieving goals. All of these positive skills helped me to make sports not only a passion, but a career. My career in sports is not a job, it is a passion. I love to coach, teach and inspire student-athletes around the World. Sports inspire all of us to do great things. All while cheering positively for our favorite teams. All while having fun in a safe environment. I love sports. They are a true love of mine.

Matt Murphy- Kids in the Game Co-Founder

Sports taught me work ethic, goal setting, leadership, teamwork, and how to handle things when they don’t go your way. Sports taught me how to be humble, as I went through periods where I was a starter, scoring points, and winning games and times where I sat on the bench, played terrible, or lost a heartbreaker. Why is that important? Because those are all lessons you need to develop in life to be successful. Life isn’t easy! On top of that, sports naturally develop deep relationships. A majority of my best friends, even today, are those I grew up with playing sports in elementary, high school, or college. That’s why watching our King Kids play sports is so inspiring for me – I know they’ll keep learning those lessons through sport and developing friendships that last forever.

Tatum Boehnke- KING Staff

Not to sound pessimistic but the world’s reality is often a far cry from always wearing rose colored glasses. However, there is this one thing that no matter what seems to bring people of all ages, all races, all genders, and all different backgrounds together: sports. Everyone can identify with that anxiety, that excitement, that pit in their stomach when going for it on 4th and 1. Cities can rebuild their identity with one swing of the bat. Nations can unite and inspire the world in just two weeks. We can all rally behind that unranked tennis player taking the world’s #1 to a 5th set.That is what I love about sports. I love that the reach of sport is far beyond the basics of a win/loss column. Fan bases become families and everyone can just agree that summer nights are for baseball, March is for basketball and no one should have to work the day after the Superbowl.

Paul O’Connor- Director of KING Hoops

I think what I love most about sports is getting a group of individuals to come together as a team. Instilling the confidence in young kids and then being able to watch them do what they thought they would never be able to is the best feeling.

Cara Hudson- Program Coordinator and UWS Summer Camp Director

I love sports because they teach everyone about sportsmanship and how to work as a team. These are two very important things to learn throughout life to help people grow into strong and respectful human beings. I love that sports bring people together for all over the world.

Sheryl Katz- Director of Marketing

Movement has always been a major part of my life from gymnastics to playing soccer (being slightly scared of the ball still counts, right?) to dancing. My passion for all-things music combined with my intent to express a feeling through movement makes dancing my ideal outlet. It’s during this time that I can let all of myself go and live in the moment. Every time I do, I leave feeling stronger – mentally and physically.Dancing requires us to focus on controlling all parts of our bodies while thinking about applying the emotion we’re meant to exude. The combination of sport and art evolves into a multi-faceted pastime.

Bonus: I’ve discovered some of my favorite songs while watching dance performances!

Katherine Higuera-McCoy- Sr. Program Coordinator and KING Spikes Director
Ok, what do I love about sports? To be honest, the competition and training. I love watching athletes compete and do the best they can to excel in their particular sport. As a former college athlete myself, I know what it takes to push your body to the limit. I respect and admire others in every sport for pushing and testing their bodies to the fullest capacity. I love seeing the drive in people and the want/urge to win, or in some cases just trying their best. Working with KING just further pushes my love for sports as we get to see the beginning of prospective athletes. We get to train the future and teach them what we know and love about sports. Our staff really makes it great for each child to excel and learn a new passion at such an early age. I love sharing my expertise in volleyball to the student athletes I coach because I am passing on everything I know to them. Plus, as an added bonus I get to learn new skills from other former collegiate athletes and get to continuously push myself to new limits.

Frances Niduaza-Murphy- Director of Performing Arts

Even though my training is in classical music (finished my doctoral studies in Collaborative Piano), I have always loved sports, fitness, and the great outdoors. I was a volleyball player from grade school until my senior year in high school, not to mention being actively involved as a church pianist and choir member. Also, I’m still brushing up on my swimming skills. Music and sports have a lot in common: they both teach and enable one to study, to listen, to manage time, to organize, to resolve conflict, to manage stress, to collaborate (being a team player), and to be willing to learn.

Adam Garrison- KING Staff

I love sports because it has provided me the foundation for the development of many lifelong friendships. Sports can also provide a link between generations and strengthen family relationships.

Ramsey Freeman- KING Coach

Working with kids has always been so rewarding. With KING, there are countless opportunities to make an impact on the children that we work and play with. I love the chance to make the kids happy. Seeing them smile and making them laugh is a great perk to the job!