When asked to describe the Bronx in three words Tracey Lewis, Kids in the Game Program Coordinator, thought for a couple minutes before saying, “needs more mentors”. From a non-New Yorker perspective, this answer didn’t surprise me. There is no lack in commentary of the “rough, lack of funding, lack of opportunity” side of New York’s most Northern borough. Unfortunately, often times we only hear that side of the story. Tracey is on a mission to write and tell another Bronx story.

Tracey was born and raised in the Bronx and is a The Bronx Wood School elementary school alum. He is currently leading Kids in the Game’s Bronx outreach program, traveling to elementary schools across the borough, educating principals on the Kids in the Game mission. For Tracey, giving kids the opportunity to be surrounded by positive influences is important; but furthermore, giving kids someone they can relate to in a positive way is vital. For that mission, Tracey is the gold standard.

From growing up in the Bronx, Tracey moved upstate to play point guard at Utica College. Although he described Utica as a “culture shock”, Tracey excelled both on the basketball court and in the classroom. He graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice and was accepted to the School Counseling Graduate program at Mercy College. To not stop there, Tracey was also a graduate assistant basketball coach at Mercy and has interned with the New York City Police Department. Oh and did I mention he also currently coaches the Cardinal Hayes High School basketball team?

To say he is a positive mentor is an understatement and that does not even include his roles with Kids in the Game. He currently is the After-School Program Director at Mount Carmel Holy Rosary, an elementary school within the Partnership Schools system. The Partnership Schools consists of six Catholic schools that aim to provide outstanding educations to low-income students. Working with this population Tracey has provided further structure and mentorship to these growing kids.

And because Kids in the Game nor Tracey take the summer off, you can find Tracey busy at our Inwood Summer Camp as the Assistant Director or planning drills for a KING Hoops practice.

He might not have a favorite sports team, restaurant, movie, TV show or any other basic questions I asked him, but what he does have is a passion for kids and sports. He told me that his quote “best day ever” is a day where all he does is coach kids and nothing else. Now I don’t have kids, but if I did, I can tell you, I would be first in line to have Coach Tracey be their coach, mentor, and friend.

Kids in the Game (KING) is participating in May’s National Physical Fitness and Sports month! This month is meant to spread awareness of the many benefits of being physically active. Frequent exercise can help reduce the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and some types of cancer. Daily movement can include activities such as participating in team sports, dancing or simply taking the stairs instead of using the elevator.

KING coaches and kids stretch before working out on the Upper West Side.

To help spread awareness, KING is conducting a month long Fitness Challenge! This challenge consists of a variety of exercises that will get children (and adults) on their feet. The goal of the challenge is to motivate students to beat their own records in fitness elements including planks, push-ups, and lane slides, with the means to develop speed, endurance, flexibility, agility and strength. KING coaches are implementing the challenge during physical education, recess and after-school programs throughout the month. 

Wilson Rose, KING’s Program Manager, notes, “Challenging children to improve on even the smallest of tasks, such as push-ups or planks, helps to boost self-confidence.”

Coach Ashley encouraging the kids at our Washington Heights after-school program.

Students that are the Overall-Leaders and Most-Improved in their programs win exciting prizes!

Fitness Challenge winners in Lower Manhattan.

We’re encouraging all of our schools and families to get involved in the challenge! Here’s how:

Focus on 2 or 3 specific fitness activities each day (push-ups, sit-ups, jogging, planks, squats, etc. Track these measurements each week from now until June to see how much you can improve. Send us your results and we’ll send you a KING water bottle or t-shirt for being part of the challenge! (Don’t worry, we won’t post your results for the world to see.)Wishing all of you a healthy and active May from Kids in the Game!

Be sure to also follow our social media pages for updates and daily exercises: Twitter: @KidsintheGameNYC, Instagram: @kidsinthegamenyc, Facebook: Kids in the Game.

A new year brings a new beginning – 2016 is the year to join in on the fun and get active! We are busy setting all sorts of goals and resolutions for our team and youth programs for the year ahead. During the process we thought we would share some of our favorite resolutions from The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) list to help children of all ages begin the year on the right foot. Here are a few of our favorites:

5-12 Years Old

• Find a favorite sport. “I will try to find a sport (like basketball or soccer) or an activity (like playing tag, jumping rope, dancing or riding my bike) that I like and do it at least three times a week!” You may also like: 3 Simple Goals that Lead to a Successful Basketball Season
• Better beverages. “I will drink water every day, and drink soda and fruit drinks only at special times.”
• Put safety first. “I will always wear a helmet when riding a bike, scooter or skateboard.”
• Promote positivity. “I’ll be friendly to kids who may have a hard time making friends by asking them to join activities such as sports or games.”

13 Years Old and Older

• Eat healthy. “I will try to eat two servings of fruit and two servings of vegetables every day, and I will drink sodas only at special times.”
• Improve self. “I will take care of my body through physical activity and eating the right types and amounts of foods.”
• Lend a helping hand. “I will help out in my community – through giving some of my time to help others, working with community groups or by joining a group that helps people in need.”
• Reduce stress. “When I feel angry or stressed out, I will take a break and find helpful ways to deal with the stress, such as exercising, reading, writing in a journal or talking about my problem with a parent or friend.”

Parents have New Year’s Resolutions too! Whether it be for themselves or the whole family, everyone can benefit from making overall healthier lifestyle choices. Here are realistic resolutions for parents and families from Kids in the Game:

• Pick up a hobby. Hobbies can boost brain power, reduce stress levels and improve your ability to focus. Active hobbies also keep you in shape! Living in New York City poses spatial challenges which makes it hard to keep moving, especially during these cold winter months. There are programs offered for adults and children in indoor sports such as basketball clinics and soccer trainings. Parents can also try yoga, biking, dancing or bowling as a way to stay active while having fun.
• Make your hobby a habit. It is known that repeated actions take 66 days to become a habit. Try to keep up your new hobby for 3 months for it to become a regular part of your schedule and make the habit feel automatic. Certain habits are formed in a shorter amount of time, such as resolving to drink a glass of water after breakfast every day, while others are trickier, such as doing 50 push-ups. Some habits can be formed by continuously improving a skill. Should you choose to take up a sport as your hobby, it is important to develop the right skills to turn recreational playing into automatic performance.
• Volunteer. Offering time to improve the community won’t just benefit those around you, but will also benefit you. You can find friends, learn new skills, advance your career and increase your self-esteem. If you want to volunteer with Kids in the Game, shoot us an email!
• Enjoy the little things. Life moves so quickly, sometimes we forget to appreciate the “here and now” – especially with our loved ones. Make it a goal to celebrate life every day with your family by exercising together, playing games that don’t involve technology or simply having dinner together once a week.

Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy New Year from Kids in the Game!

The Kids in the Game coaches derive from varied backgrounds and experiences in sports and fitness. Our diversity allows us to help shape our programs to encourage every individual to succeed. We take great pride in the positive influence our team members have on the community. Therefore, I’m excited to announce the start of Staff Spotlights – a series introducing our coaches to you!

To kick off the series, I sat down with Program Manager Wilson Rose.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

“I’m from a small town in Central New York called Earlville.  Growing up I played a lot of basketball and being around the game has always been a passion of mine.  I’ve also always enjoyed working with and being around kids. My mom is a school psychologist in the school district that I grew up in so I was always hanging around and fascinated by school culture.  Working in such a collaborative environment was always appealing to me.  I knew going into college that I wanted to major in developmental psychology. In college, I began interning and working at the Mt. Hope Family Center, which is a part of the University of Rochester’s psychology department.  I gained a lot of good-hands on experience in their therapeutic after-school program as well as other research projects including a research based summer camp.  After graduating, I was hired full-time to coordinate the therapeutic after-school program and eventually moved into a coordinator role of various developmental research grants.”

How did you get involved with Kids in the Game?

“Matt Murphy, Co-Founder of Kids in the Game, has been a friend of mine for a long time – we played basketball in college together and he’s always kept me up to date with everything going on with Kids in the Game.  It wasn’t until recently though that I saw myself being a part of it.  It was clear that I could combine all of my interests and strengths into one position by joining the KinG team.  I’m able to spend time with kids in a fun and interactive environment while working with school administrations, personnel and my peers who all share the same passions.”

What programs are you involved in currently?

“As the Program Manager, I have a hand in all of our programs.  Currently, I’m doing a lot of work on our curriculum and lesson planning.  For our recess programs, I’m putting together the games calendars for November and beyond. For the after-school programs>, I’m getting together a series of lesson plans for different sports so our coaches can feel as prepared as possible going into their programs. Summer camp is always on my mind!  As Camp Director at our Inwood location last year, I discovered the tools necessary to make the camp experience the best it can be. That goes hand-in-hand with our other “camp-like” activities –Kids Night Out & our Upper West Side Winter Break Camp. They will be run similarly to summer camp as multi-activity programs that offer a wide variety of activities and well-balanced fun.

One of the best parts of my job is that I get to coach as well.  Currently I’m coaching physical education at the AltSchool in Brooklyn Heights. Being there 3 days a week, I’ve gotten to know the kids and staff very well. I know what each child can do well and what they will or won’t respond to. It’s great to be able to adapt the class to the kids that are in it.  Understanding where each child is developmentally can be very useful for any coach or teacher. In addition to AltSchool, I’m coaching youth basketball clinics and a middle school team on the Upper West Side.”

Thanks, Wilson! Now for some miscellaneous questions to learn more about you…

What’s your favorite sport?

“Basketball”

What’s your favorite team?

“Syracuse Orange (I’m a bigger fan of college basketball than the NBA.  I’ll watch any college basketball game that’s on.  The NBA season is too long and that takes away from the competitive nature and importance of each game, in my opinion.)”

What’s something interesting about you that we don’t already know?

“I built my bike from scratch out of miscellaneous parts.”

Do you have a favorite quote or saying?

“’It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.’ – Frederick Douglass”

If you could have lunch with any famous person, who would it be?

“Kurt Vonnegut”

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Wilson Rose is the Program Manager for Kids in the Game and contributes his efforts to each of the KinG programs: after-school, summer camp, recess, Kid’s Night Out and Winter Break Camp. Wilson also currently coaches physical education in Brooklyn. To connect with Wilson, you can reach him at Wilson@kidsinthegame.com.

We are proud to announce that our Director of Performing Arts, Frances Niduaza-Murphy, has joined the New York Choral Society (NYCS) for the 2015-2016 year. NYCS is made up of 175 members and sought after guest artists throughout New York City.

Being in its 56th season, the NYCS will perform with tenor Andrea Bocelli on December 9th at the Madison Square Garden. Upcoming shows include “Christmas Around New York” to be performed on December 20th at the David Geffen Hall, formerly Alice Tully Hall, in Lincoln Center as well as famous concert halls in Staten Island and the Bronx throughout the month. On February 5, 2016, the NYCS will perform Arvo Pärt’s 1985 Te Deum and Beethoven’s Mass in C op. 86. Additionally, on May 10, 2016, Music Director David Hayes will lead the choir in Georg Friedrich Handel’s oratorio Israel in Egypt. Both programs will be held at Carnegie Hall.



Also as a part of the NY Choral Chamber Singers, Frances performs in a smaller ensemble of 35-50 singers made up of members from the larger NYCS group. The ensemble will perform music of Claude Debussy, Eric Esenvalds and Jonathan Dove on March 18, 2016.

As a classical musician, Frances is trained in music education as well as music performance in piano and voice. As Director of Performing Arts of Kids in the Game (KinG), Frances is able to share her passion for music with her students. She began an after-school piano class at P.S. 75 Emily Dickinson with 12 students. These students had the opportunity to perform 1-2 piano pieces in recitals held twice within the year – once in December, performing on a keyboard, and in June, on a grand piano. The success of the program has caused enrollment to double for this school year. Frances is also an integral part of the KinG dance program. She is certified in Zumba Basic I, Zumba Kids and Zumba Kids Jr. Since 2013, she has been teaching Zumba and Step for after-school programs in parochial and public schools around New York City. During summer months, Frances heads up the arts & crafts, music and dance curriculum at the Kids in the Game summer camp locations in Inwood and Upper West Side.



For the past year, Frances has been singing soprano with the Our Savior’s Atonement (OSA) Church Choir and the Cornerstone Chorale, both based in Washington Heights. Her involvement with opera singing includes being a cover artist for the Cantanti Project II, “Hits and Hidden Gems of Mozart and Massenet.” She is invited to be a part of the Georg Friedrich Haendel’s Alcina in February 2016 for Cantanti’s Project VII.

The Kids in the Game team is excited to have Frances on board contributing to the continuous growth of the dance and music programs.

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Frances Niduaza-Murphy is the Director of Performing Arts of Kids in the Game and a certified teacher in physical education, health and music. Frances earned her Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Collaborative Piano. To connect with Frances, you can reach her at Frances@kidsinthegame.com.