The week before Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, people and organizations around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week to help raise the visibility of transgender people and address issues members of the community face.

At Kids in the Game, we’re working to create more visibility by observing Transgender Awareness Week internally and celebrating the achievements of trans athlete Chris Mosier to inspire others and promote inclusion. On Tuesday our team participated in a learning session that included listening to a podcast on intersectionality and the LGBTQIA experience featuring Barbara Smith & Lady Pyhll. Barbara is a Lesbian feminist and socialist who has played a significant role in Black feminism in the United States since the early 1970s. Lady Phyll is Co-Founder of UK Black Pride & Editor of Sista: an anthology of writings by LGBT women of African/Caribbean descent with a connection to the United Kingdom. 

Through this session and open conversations amongst team members, we are working to create a more inclusive environment. As an organization, we strive to meet kids where they are, integrate communities and welcome people of all backgrounds. 

Athlete Spotlight: Chris Mosier

Chris Mosier is a trailblazing transgender athlete and thought leader on LGBTQ inclusion in sports. Chris is Vice President of community relations and program development for You Can Play, an organization that ensures safety and inclusion across all sports for LGBTQ players, coaches and fans. 

In 2019, Mosier joined the Board of Directors of Point of Pride, a non-profit that works with trans people in need of gender affirming programs. Mosier is also a USA certified triathlon coach, as well as a coach and Ambassador for the Empire Triathlon Club in NYC since 2012. 

Chris Mosier has dedicated his life to sports and the importance of respect and inclusion within them.  In 2015, Chris earned a spot on the Team USA Sprint Dualiton Men’s Team for the 2016 World Championships. In 2016, Chris made history as the first known transgender athlete to compete on a U.S. national team based on his gender identity and not his assigned gender at birth.

After competing at the highest level, Chris took on a new challenge, dedicating his life to educating and empowering the world on the importance of inclusion. He is now known as the go-to source for policy and information on trangender people in sport. He also created ‘transathlete.com’ a resource for students, athletes, coaches, and administrators to find information about trans inclusion in athletics at various levels of play.

Did you know?

24% of the LGBTQ say they play a youth sport, compared to 68% of all other youth. 

youcanplayproject.org

83% of fans surveyed believe that an openly gay spectator at a sporting event would not be safe. 

thechrismosier.com

When we understand these statistics, we realize the importance of education and inclusion. Simply saying we recognize all people isn’t enough, and we have to be proactive and open in creating these spaces. This starts with educating ourselves and continuing to learn more every day. When we allow ourselves to take on those challenges, we start to feel confident enough to educate and give support to others. There is also a balance in knowing it’s okay to ask questions when you are unsure. We’re allowed to be wrong. And we must practice active listening. Active listening shows care, an eagerness to learn and commitment to better yourself. 

Chris’s mission highlights what we believe in at Kids in the Game. He uses his  platform to educate, demonstrate and lead by example. He understands that kids can often feel as if they don’t have a voice, and he challenges himself to be that for them.  As coaches, co-workers and role models it is our job to lead by example and create a safe place for kids and the people we work with to feel accepted. At Kids in the Game, one of our ultimate impact goals is to develop emotional intelligence in youth and help our kids form impactful long term relationships. Both are not possible unless we fully embrace the differences in people and educate ourselves. When we are able to do so, the mission of creating accepting, nurturing and educated environments is possible, and we are all able to be the best people we can be. 

Equality through hoops.

We at Kids in the Game and KING Hoops are no stranger to the inequities in our country. New York City is home to the highest inequality gap in the nation. We see this on a daily basis in the schools and communities we work in, and we’ve made a conscious effort to help close that gap through direct service and financial aid. 

We launched The Kids in the Game Foundation in 2017 in a concentrated effort to raise money to help underserved families participate in the programming their children desperately need. Since then, we have been able to provide over $130,000  in scholarships that have allowed 185 deserving kids to participate in our programs who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do so. Although we are proud of this work, we know that this is by no means the final step. We’re just getting started. 

In light of the recent but unfortunately recurring events over the past few months and in a direct response to the BLM movement, we wanted to make sure that we are doing all we can to help make a difference. We have partnered with Jacob Forcheimer of Hoop Cereal to create the Gym Rat Scholarship that will go specifically to Black and Brown children who are in need of financial aid to participate in youth sports programming. 

The Facts

While we know that participating in sports as a whole aids in character building, strengthens peer to peer relationships, and provides positive mentorship, our kids are lacking opportunity beyond just sport participation. Many of our participants are attending failing schools and have been since elementary school. We keep extensive demographic records for our participants and geographical reach and relate this information with city, state and national research. Research shows Black or Hispanic NYC youth are nearly four times more likely to be enrolled in one of the city’s poorest high schools than an Asian or White student. 

The educational gap in New York City is widening and high school graduation rates directly correlate with the poverty level of a neighborhood. Our program participants are growing up in low-income neighborhoods where the availability of sports coaching or academic support is not comparable to what is available in high-income neighborhoods.  This is why our KING Hoops program does not solely focus on basketball but also provides each participant with academic and life skills training as part of the program model. 

Together, we can close the gap and create a more equitable New York City for all kids. Will you join us?

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Some statistics around KING Hoops and how basketball has made an impact.

1. 100% of KING Hoops Players improve in one or more of the following categories after 1 season of participation: Self-Confidence, Social Connection, and Goal Orientation.

2. 92% of players feel like they have an adult or coach in the program that believes in their ability to succeed.

3. 88% strengthened peer relationships or met someone that wouldn’t have without the program.

4. If a child grows up under the poverty line they are 30% less likely to participate in youth sports and gain the valuable life skills mentioned above. 

5. 72% of all KING Hoops players require financial aid in order to be able to participate in the program.

Gym Rat Scholly Tees. 100% of profits donated.

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Let’s be a part of the change.

KING is proud to announce that in partnership with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation’s Innovation Grant we will be starting an eSports league with 4 middle schools in Harlem. Laureus’ Innovation Grant supports first-time, outside the box ideas and helping turn them into a reality. This is KING’s first global grant.

It is not news to us that kids love to play video games. We have seen thousands of Fortnite dance moves at our programs to prove it. With the rise of eSports the popularity of youth playing video games is bound to increase. This got us thinking: how we could insert a positive influence and a positive structure to the mix? How could we connect with the kids that go home from school each day and sit on their couch to play video games alone? We asked ourselves why can’t eSports be structured the same as a traditional basketball, soccer, or swim team? From these questions the idea of creating an eSports league was born. Kids would be on their school team, be coached, have practices, compete in games against other schools and have the opportunity to learn the life-skills that come along with playing team sports: teamwork, goal setting, dedication, respecting differences, measurable happiness, among others.

The exciting part of starting a fresh new program is the ability to put our KING twist on it. The kids will not only receive coaching in the eSports games (NBA 2K, FIFA) but then will transfer the skills in the video game onto the court and field. Each practice will have a physically active component that will get the kids moving and connect them to the video games in a new and unique way. Our intent is that students that may have never had the confidence to play traditional sports will have a new outlet to try it through this hybrid program model.

What our CEO Matt Murphy has to say about it….

“As a team full of athletes and coaches, our instincts and core belief is that kids should be on the field, in the gym, and in the park. With that said, there is an undeniable wave of new technologies and social norms that are changing the definition of ‘sport’. As an organization, we feel a responsibility to lean into the future while holding strong to what makes sports truly an incredible vehicle for youth development — a sense of belonging, new experiences, a positive coach, being physically active, and the lessons learned through winning and losing. We’re excited to take our proven sports-based model and engage students that may not ever have the confidence or opportunity to be a student-athlete.

Not doing it alone!

We are excited to be partnering with the New York Excelsior Group to help us combine the eSports world with the KING world. NYXL participates in the professional Overwatch league amongst 11 other teams spread across the world. They bring a wealth of knowledge in the eSports environment and will be critical in helping us launch this successful program. Over the past few months NYXL has hosted pop-up shops in Brooklyn that have featured high schools from all over the tri-state coming to compete in eSports. The group has a focused mission in 2019 to get more high school kids educated on the opportunities eSports has including a rise in college scholarships and job skill knowledge. We are excited to be working with a group that sees a clear future of eSports and a way to get kids involved in a focused, positive way.

Can we all just stop for a moment and discuss that it is March already? MARCH. Where did winter go? As we enter into the warmer months one thing is on our mind: Swimming. We are trading in our snow boots for bathing suits and getting ready to jump in. Swimming is a summertime staple and has always been a big part of KING Summer Camps but this year we are upping the ante and offering swim lessons for the first time. This news inspired us to share some Do’s and Don’ts of swim lessons and what you can expect from KING swim lessons (hint: it’s the do’s!).

Don’t: Use floaties. Yes, they are cute and probably have your child’s favorite Disney character printed on them, but don’t be tricked. A child floating with blow up floaties does not equate to being able to swim. The floaties actually make the child bob up and down vertically and forces the child to kick with improper form. This creates a habit that is very hard to break in swim lessons.

Do: Be aware of the swim environment. If the lessons are outdoors sunscreen is a must. If the lessons are indoors, ask what type of pool are they going to be in. A typical competition pool is kept around 80 degrees. For younger swimmers this temperature can be chilly and can deter them from having a productive lesson (picture shivering kids sitting on the edge of the pool). Rashguards and thin swimmer wetsuits can be awesome solutions for youngsters that tend to get cold. Be aware that cotton t-shirts or additional clothing will not aide in keeping the swimmer warm and will be detrimental to swim progress.

Do: Find balance between age and ability for swim groups. Swim lessons are a great place to make friends but swimming ability/confidence does not correlate with age in the same way that other land sports do. This isn’t to say you want to group a 5 year old “future Michael Phelps” with 12 year olds, as you still want to be sensitive to social and emotional factors. However, a 6-year-old could be jumping in and ready to rock in roll, whereas a 10-year-old could be digging their fingernails into the instructor’s arm out of complete fear of the water. Finding the balance between ability and social factors is key from successful group lessons. If your lesson provider isn’t doing a pre-lesson swim test, consider it a red flag.

Don’t: Assume your child will be the “Future Michael Phelps after 1 lesson. There are a million and two factors that go into the learn-to-swim process. Each child will learn at different speeds and that is okay. Celebrate the small victories, such as the first time your child floats on their back, or the first time they dunk their whole face under the water. Not every child will be a competitive swimmer, but it is our hope every child will be a safe swimmer.

Do: Bring goggles to lessons! 1) Simply, chlorine is not the most pleasant thing for eyes! 2) Many good swim instructors will communicate through hand gestures while the swimmer’s face is under water. We want the child to be able to see that communication. 3) Goggles often raise the confidence levels of the child. Similar to a cool new pair of basketball shoes, goggles will make the child want to “act the part” and gets them ready to rock the lesson.

Don’t: Take for granted the life skill that swimming is. Swimming is a sport that can be enjoyed at all ages. Learning to be a safe swimmer will build confidence in both the parent and the child when going to the beach, taking a boat ride, jumping off that diving board. Basically, everyone should learn to swim!

For more information on all Kids in the Game programing check out our website or email info@kidsinthegame.com