Dear KinG families,

We’d like to say a big thank you for helping us make 2015 a year full of ‘firsts’.

Here are 9 ‘firsts’ that we are especially proud of:

Found a home! We’ve settled into our office near Lincoln Center and painted, decorated, and designed a space that reflects our team’s culture.

Started our first ever Summer Camp and Winter Break Camp on the Upper West Side. (Over 150 families participated in a successful first summer!).

In Inwood, we had our first ever summer camp field trips to NY Yankees and NY Mets games, area museums, and the Bronx Zoo!

Held our first ever Partnership Schools (6 schools across Harlem and the Bronx) sports clinics, including a great turnout for basketball (80 families!) and our first ever volleyball clinics.

Ran our first ever basketball league in lower Manhattan, which included some of the city’s top players and attracted college scouts from across the northeast.

Became a member organization of Up2Us Sports, and added our first Coach Across America and Americorps VISTA team members, both who have been fantastic additions to the team!

Held our first ever Kids Night Out program, a new event for parents and their children. The program has been so successful, we’ve recently announced more dates for 2016

Our King Hoops NYC basketball program has had multiple firsts including starting clinics in 2 different locations, running an adult basketball boot camp and receiving accreditation from USA Basketball and the Jr. NBA.

Joined Brooklyn’s innovative Alt School, a school with investment from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and with leadership from former executives of Google, Uber, and Zynga, as their physical education provider!

Held our first ever multi-school field day with 600+ students participating on Randall’s Island in a full day of outdoor games and activities.

What a year! We couldn’t have done it without all of our families and schools we serve, our coaches, our partners, and so many others that support our program. We look forward to continuing to grow with all of you in 2016!

– 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”

—

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.