PC returns to Citi Field thanks to the David Wright Foundation!

June 19, 2011

A little over a year after Project Coach youth made their first outing to Citi Field, Queens, NY, to witness a walk-off Mets victory against the San Francisco Giants, the program returned to the ballpark today to once again engage in a summer highlight-reel trip to see their idols play.

Spirits were high on the journey down I-95 as youth coaches were joined by Program Director Andy Wood and Coach Mike Dean, along with two Project Coach dads, who were able to celebrate Father's Day in style with their proud teens. The PC organization was particularly delighted to welcome Norris Gordon - Physical Director of the Flushing Clubhouse at the Boys Club of New York - and several of his youth participants, to join us on this special day. PC and BCNY will be collaborating on a week-long iteration of Project Coach programming in July at Camp Cromwell, NJ, and the day-trip served as a perfect opportunity for program staff and teens to form relationships ahead of the project.

Arriving in plenty of time to savour the awesome stadium, PC youth took in batting practice and made the most of the plentiful activities at Citifield, including the batting cages and pitching lanes, where aspiring baseball player and rookie coach Julian Santana showed off his skills to fellow coach Zach Johnson. After (several) trips to the concession stands and team store, the PC contingent took their seats in the sun for a tremendous afternoon of baseball from a perfect vantage point in left field.

Although the result didn't go the way of the Mets this year, who dropped the rubber game of the series against the visiting LA Angels despite a crowd-pleasing ninth-inning rally, our coaches left Citi Field in buoyant mood after an action-packed day of great baseball,  fun-filled entertainment, and - above all - excellent company. A key premise of Project Coach lies in the value of connecting youth in the program more closely to those critical individuals who are able to guide and lead them through the challenges that they encounter on the path to college and self-fulfillment, and relationship-forming trips such as the visit to the Mets game continue to serve as critical junctures in the social development of our youth.

We are once again indebted to the support, hard work, and generosity of Cathy and Ira at the David Wright Foundation for this incredible opportunity, and thank them for providing such an inspiring experience for our youth coaches.

Andy Wood
Program Director

PC reports high levels of participant physical activity in latest study

Project Coach’s Use of Actigraph Accelerometers Provides Objective Health Benefits for Youth and Beyond

By: Kathleen Boucher

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans states that children and adolescents should do 60 minutes (1 hour) or more of physical activity each day. Activity, however, needs to not only be moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) but it also needs to be age appropriate. While Project Coach continually strives to provide a venue to meet such recommendations, the spring of 2011 marked the first year that Project Coach has been able to use state of the art technology, namely accelerometers, to objectively measure its strides. Accordingly, this entry will describe how Project Coach has already been using the accelerometers as well as the far-reaching benefits that such data can have for the many layers of Project Coach as well as the Springfield community at large.

Why is an Accelerometer Useful When Measuring Moderate and Vigorous Physical Activity?

The Center for Disease Control[1] suggests that parents can think about moderate and vigorous intensity in two ways. First, considering a scale of 0 to 10, where sitting is a 0 and the highest activity level is a 10, moderate-intensity activity would be a 5 or 6 and vigorous-activity would be a 7 or 8. During moderate-intensity activity, a child’s breathing would be harder than normal and the heart will beat faster than a normal resting level. Accordingly, during vigorous-intensity activity, a child’s breathing would be much harder than normal and the heart would beat much faster than normal. A second way of thinking about this is if a child walks to school in the morning then she or he is most likely doing moderate-intensity aerobic activity. However, when she runs during recess or is being chased during a game of tag, she is probably doing vigorous-intensity activity. While these are useful measures, they only provide subjective results since an individual can say a child is “probably” engaging in a certain level of activity. Such measurements are further difficult for a sports coach to monitor when she or he has at least nine different children to watch at the same time. Technology has provided ways to aide such measurements.

Over the years, many tools have been developed to provide objective, empirical measurements of physical activity. For example, while a pedometer measures activity in equal-length two-dimensional steps, accelerometers measure random activity on three axes. Research studies[2] have validated the use of Actigraph accelerometers as a useful device for the assessment of physical activity in children. Therefore, accelerometers, in this case worn on a belt on a child’s waist, provide accurate and non-invasive measurements for the amount and intensity of activity. Such data is invaluable to ensure that a program’s practices are not only striving to meet daily activity standards for children, but that those goals can actually and consistently be met. It is for these reasons that Project Coach came to acquire ten Actigraph Accelerometers to help inform their practice.    

What Project Coach Did

During this past spring basketball season of Project Coach, eight 5^th grade kids from Brightwood Elementary School in Springfield, Massachusetts wore accelerometers on two separate school days in which they would also attend Project Coach after school. With the help of the school’s PE teacher, Mr. Dalessio, the accelerometers were distributed when the students arrived at school in the morning. The students then proceeded to wear them all day at school and during Project Coach after school. The first trial day, a Tuesday, was a Project Coach practice session and the second trial day, a Friday, was a Project Coach game day. The accelerometers were set to collect data from 9AM-5PM.

How The Accelerometer Data Were Analyzed

Two different procedures were employed to analyze the accelerometer data. Once the data were uploaded using the Actigraph software, total activity counts were computed from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Then, total activity counts were measured during the 4 p.m. -5 p.m. hour when children were participating in Project Coach. Using these two numbers, it was possible to calculate the percentage of activity children had when participating in Project Coach (4 p.m. -5 p.m.) and during each of the hours that they were in school (9 a.m. -4 p.m.). Our first question was how activity during a Project Coach hour compared to activity during a typical hour during a child’s school day.

Second, the raw data were also analyzed using a mathematical algorithm that computed the amounts of sedentary, light, moderate, and, vigorous physical activity children obtained while in school and while participating in Project Coach  These categories identify common daily physical activity standards and can therefore be used to determine whether children in our program were getting recommended levels of physical activity.

Results:

The Project Coach Hours

Based on the 3 dimensional activity counts, this study found, 35% of activity that kids got between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. were during the Project Coach (4 p.m. -5 p.m.) time block. Therefore, in the 8 hour time period, 35% of the students’ activity occurs during this 1 hour. As well, Graph 1 shows that, during the Project Coach hour kids get about 3.85 times the activity that they get during a typical hour in school! This suggests that Project Coach provides a venue for physical activity that is not available during the school day. The use of accelerometers thus provides empirical data to depict the extent to which Project Coach kids are relatively more active while at Project Coach practices and game days.

Meet Daily Moderate and Vigorous Physical Activity Requirement

As well, Graph 2a shows that in Project Coach, children’s activity is structured as: 7% sedentary—(1-1.5 METS), 30% (Light—1.5-3 METS), 57% (Moderate—3-6 METS), and 6% (Vigorous—6-9 METS). In contrast, a typical school hour between 9-4 would look like 51% (Sedentary); 39% (Light), 10% (Moderate), and 0.0% (Vigorous). Furthermore, when converted to a minute-to-minute breakdown Graph 2b shows that during a Project Coach hour practice or game, kids are only sedentary for 4.2 minutes and engaged in moderate or vigorous activity for 37.8 minutes.  

Overall A Good Pilot Study

Overall the data above do indicate that Project Coach is adding significantly to the amount of physical activity children are getting in a typical day. Because of scheduling, we were on unable to measure the activity levels of Project Coach youth during the 4-5 p,. hour on days when they are not attending the program.  However, because of a mix-up in assigning accelerometers to kids,  we did manage to collect data from  a fifth grader who attended the Brightwood Afterschool Program instead of Project Coach. This participant received 10% of her activity between 4-5 p.m. (contrast with 35% for Project Coach kids). This was also less than she got in an average hour during her school day, which was 14% per hour. During the 4PM-5PM hour, she worked at 1.5 METS, and had the following profile: 63% sedentary, 32% light, and 5% moderate activity. Therefore, during her afterschool hour, she only received 3 minutes of activity that reached a moderate to vigorous activity level (in contrast to Project Coach kids who got nearly 38 minutes). While this was only one participant, it further suggests that Project Coach provides a venue for students to be significantly more active than they would be without Project Coach

Further Implications

Our initial work using accelerometers has a number of important implications for Project Coach. Clearly, the data show that kids in our program are getting significantly more physical activity than they typically get during their school day. The data also provides information about the structure and intensity of activity children obtain during the time they are with us. Using these baseline data, we are now able to provide our coaches with feedback about how what they do in practices and games impacts the activity levels that their players are getting. While the results from this pilot study indicate that they have been doing good work, we think that there is also room for improvement. Next year we will be focusing on increasing the amount of vigorous activity that participants get in Project Coach. 

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[1] http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/children.html

[2] NIH (’08), Actigraph (’02).

The Indispensable Marie Wallace

When I began going to the Project Coach sessions I would see Marie Wallace occasionally but I wasn't sure who she was; I thought maybe she worked for a Springfield high school. She was enviable at ease, joking with the the Blue Shirts, giving them cookies.

Marie,who just graduated from Smith College and is going on to study at the University of Austin, first became involved with Project Coach in her junior year at Smith College; she was taking one the Sam Intrator's classes, one of Project Coach's directors, and had to incorporate a community based project as part of her class work. She was opposed to taking a class with with Professor Intrator since he hadn't accepted her for a previous project, but she grudgingly accepted to write blogs once a week for Project Coach. She became "very interested in the teenagers, asking them about their grades, what their life was like at school." Then Marie started going down to Springfield more than that days she was required to, helped coordinate tutors to come. She also started an SAT program last fall. She interviewed for the job, got the job and was the co-director with a student from Mount Holyoke. Marie says that the Blue Shirts hated her the entire time but she bribed them with food and they all took the SATs. By the end of last year she was "in love with the program, in love with all of the teenagers" and she would write about her experience at Project Coach in any class that she could, eventually leading her to write her senior thesis on the program.

The following is an interview with with John, who is one of the Blue Shirts Marie worked with, and with Marie, where she discusses the challenges she faced when she began forging friendships with the Blue Shirts, some of her most memorable moments with them, and how her experience at Project Coach has shaped her professional aspirations. We met outside and sat on the grass, Marie had just gotten back from being with some of the Project Coach Blue Shirts and a group of French high school students who were visiting from Marseilles. One of the Blue Shirts had left his cellphone in one of the graduate student's car and called Marie in an effort to retrieve it. She then coordinated the retrieval, calling one student to get the phone number of the student with the car and then in turn calling her before calling back the Blue Shirt with the misplaced phone to reassure him that he would have it back the next day, an example of one of the many things she persistently, dedicatedly, does for Project Coach.

Project Coach Goes French!

This week marked a historical moment in the history of Project Coach as Red Shirts and Blue Shirts alike welcomed ten students—three girls and seven boys, ages 14-17—from Marseilles, France to take a walk in their shoes for the next three weeks. This cross-cultural youth exchange program, which was sponsored entirely by SportsUnited, a division of the Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S Department of State, will specifically aim to train the French students how to become coaches for elementary children in their own hometowns as well as foster meaningful discussions and cultural awareness about various issues regarding racism and discrimination in both countries. Yet, Julie Hooks, who is the Executive Director of the Institute for Training and Development (ITD) in Amherst, MA and Project Director of the exchange program itself, says that above all, we can expect the program to build a number of personal relationships between both sets of youth over the coming weeks—not to mention, well into next year when 10 students from Project Coach travel to France for two weeks to participate in similar activities.

Although the France Sports Initiative is the third exchange program that ITD has developed around youth sports since the organization started in 1985, this is the first program that has actually involved the youth themselves in the training process and cultural awareness activities that ITD seeks to traditionally provide for its visiting participants. Indeed, upon hearing about Project Coach’s success with training Springfield youth to coach and mentor elementary school kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods, Julie saw a unique opportunity to build an exchange sports program that would “bridge cultural gaps” as well as provide its participants with practical coaching skills and information about the importance of youth development sports programs. 

In the end, Julie hopes that everyone will come away from the exchange with new perceptions about their current ideas of diversity. One of the main reasons she cites that Marseille was specifically chosen for the exchange was because of its “diverse population” since the community has a fairly large presence of northern African and Muslim immigrants. Thus, it is expected that conversations surrounding controversial issues such as immigrant and minority representation within the French community may crop up over the coming weeks. Additionally, there is also a notable lack of girls’ participation within youth sports programs in France, which is unfortunately evidenced by the fact that there are only three girls that were selected by the Marseille Sports Bureau and U.S. Consulate for participation in the exchange program. Julie hopes this observation will also strike engaging dialogue among the program participants and intrigue them to think about the various ways today’s youth can address these and other important social issues through the world of sports.

By Project Coach Reporter -- Danielle Santos

Will Bangs on how Project Coach led him to teach

Will Bangs, who now teaches Middle School History and English, was first introduced to Project Coach as a student at Hampshire College when he took one of Sam Intrator's seminar classes. If it weren't for the program, "Sam, Don and Andy", the Project Coach directors, and some of the coaches like Duane, Loeb, Ziggy that he met once he became involved in Project Coach, he would not be teaching today. After graduation from Hampshire, Will went on to obtain his Masters of Teaching degree at Smith College, under the Project Coach fellowship.

During Project Coach sessions, Will helped the Blue Shirts with media production, teaching them storytelling using radio and video through different activities and lessons on Thursday afternoons. The Blue Shirts went through the steps of devising video projects, arranging footage, and interviewing their parents, teachers, and community members. The culmination was a video documented through the coaches' voices, which was sent to a foundation, and who, as a result of watching the video, gave Project Coach a five thousand dollar grant, money that would, in part, go towards the coaches salaries. It was at the point that Will was able to see the tangible result of his involvement in Project Coach.

For his senior thesis, a convergence of education, community organization and video production, Blue Shirts from Project Coach, Sam, Don, Andy and other teenagers he had worked with were brought to his college. Some of the Project Coach Blue Shirts spoke about what being involved in Will's media production projects had meant to them. One coach had been on the brink of dropping out of high school, but in part because of his involvement in Project Coach, he kept holding on, in an attempt to do well in school so that he would be able to obtain a scholarship to persue media production. Project Coach has an "impact on the teens in Springfield but it's also powerful for the college students involved in it". Will is grateful for being in "just the right spot".

From Central High to Harvard Law School: PC on the Road

April 4, 2011
Harvard Law School, Cambridge MA.

"When are we picking up Sam"? "Which school do we pick up from first"? "Who has the parking pass"? 

All part of  the usual conversation in the fast-paced, day-to-day operations of an after-school program with an infinite number of moving parts and a plethora of unexpected challenges to navigate. What transpired for the rest of this afternoon - and most of the evening - was anything but 'normal'. A little less than two hours after leaving the parking lot of Central High School in Springfield, MA, the three Project Coach directors and three of their most promising youth coaches were immersed in an enthralling lecture within the hallowed halls of Harvard Law School.

Thanks to the efforts of Allie Canton (Amherst College alum, 2nd year HLS student) and former Project Coach 'redshirt' alum Arianna Miliotis, current blueshirts Joseph Wray, Kiana Figueroa, and Xavier Rosario were treated to an experience unlike any before, as they became special guests of esteemed HLS professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. during a session of the lecture series "Race and Justice". In a unique approach, Professor Ogletree uses topics and scenarios that are dealt with in acclaimed HBO show The Wire to help impress upon students their legal and moral implications. Upon meeting Allie and Arianna, the coaches took their place in the audience, as those present were treated to a soul-stirring recital of the poem "Invictus", amongst other works, by the Young Kings of the Renaissance Charter School in Boston, at the conclusion of which the guest speakers for the evening took their places at the podium.

Heading the panel - as with many sessions during the lecture series - was an actor or actress from the The Wire; on this occasion Sonja Sohn, who plays Detective Kima Greggs. Ms Sohn was joined by the Program Director of "Rewired for Life", a youth development organization located in East Baltimore, and Commander Melvin Russell of the Baltimore PD. Ms Sohn began the panel discussion by describing the inspiring work of "Rewired for Life", for which she - and several cast members from The Wire - devotes considerable time and resources. Citing the need to "reignite the culture of concern in East Baltimore" as the primary motivating factor for her involvement, Ms Sohn described the pressing need for services such as homework help, fitness programs, and community building to help youth and adults alike to see the need to develop relations with those around them. Of particular salience to Project Coach were her remarks around the importance of educating adults in civic engagement to ensure that the values being taught in "Rewired for Life" are replicated and reinforced in the homes of the youth participants.

Commander Russell followed Ms Sohn's impassioned plea for the support of programs such as "Rewired for Life" and Project Coach by describing his twenty-plus years of service to the Baltimore PD in its undercover narcotics division. Wrangling with the notion of retirement after years of frustration at the lack of collaboration between the police and the East Baltimore community, Russell rejected the 'easy path' and decided to devote the remainder of his career to forging better links between his force and local residents, through meaningful discussions around the notions of affordable housing, job creation, and "taking the little, isolated fires of progress" and making one united front for positive development. As a result of these steps, homicides and shootings in the East Baltimore district that Commander Russell heads up fell by a greater percentage than any other district last year.



A moment of particular pride for Project Coach took place soon after, when during the Q & A session that proceeded the panel presentations, Coaches Joseph Wray and Xavier Rosario followed up on an initial inquiry posed by a Boston University professor to ask their own questions of the panelists. Their questions, and the responses from panelists, can be seen below:






However, perhaps the most influential discussion was reserved for the end of the night over pizza, as Project Coach youth quizzed Allie about her choice of career, and the path that she took to Harvard. Coach Joe was particularly captivated by the sense of hard work and devotion that Allie espoused as she debunked the myth that HSL was the sole reserve of the elite and wealthy. Such discussions rolled over into the van ride home, as Joe articulately explained his interest in the legal profession, and the ways that he might go about following a similar route to that of Allie.

Project Coach's sincere thanks go to Allie and Arianna, along with Professor Ogletree and others at HSL for providing us with such a warm welcome!

Andy Wood
Program Director.

Basketball Games

Blue Shirts shouted "2, 3 defense" and "leave some space" at their players from the sidelines. The session began with the players' practicing their shooting, especially free throws, rebounds, and dribbling. About halfway though the session different teams began competing against each other. Player's made some very impressive shots and the Blue Shirts were also able to see what their players needed to work on. A couple of players had finger jams and sat out for a few minutes but soon returned to their game.