Launch day, savvy teens, and snap judgements

By Sam Intrator, Project Coach

Yesterday we launched our opening session of the Project Coach Academy. First sessions are pivotal. They remind me of a line from a novelist talking about how long he worked at revising the first line of his latest work. He said something like, “first lines are portals to this world that I’ve created.” Well first sessions are portals to our program’s world. First sessions launch our world and here is a short list of what we aspired to do!

1. Introduce new coaches to the Project Coach Way
2. Build the spirit or the culture that will enable us to work together
3. Introduce the core and essential skills that anchor our program
4. Communicate the standards and boundaries that will guide our work
5. Model the nature of how we will interact together
6. Begin to connect and bring to life those relationships between staff and youth that function as the white blood cells of an organization like ours.

I’m a big believer in that teenagers are savvy consumers with highly evolved and developed sensibilities. They grow up in a culture where people are ‘selling to them all the time’ so they are accustomed to making decisions about what has value and what is valueless. I also think that they have highly nuanced decision making prowess, they tend to look at a product, a class, a person, a situation -- appraise its attributes and then churn out a crude decision:

“Dude, that suck!”
“That was so boring.”
“That was awesome.”

No nuance, subtlety, or gradations. I tend to believe young people operate with a binary system of evaluation: fail or pass. We’re not like the Apple app store where you get to rate on a scale of 1-5. So, as we launch Project Coach-- we have the chance to sell ourselves, showoff our gadgetry, communicate our utility, evoke a sense of promise in an effort to be designated of worth by the young people we intend to serve.

Let me raise the stakes even more: Not only do these initial valuations matter, but they may happen in a blink. When David Brooks reviews the research on first impressions, the findings from the realm of neuroscience ratchet up the pressure. He tells that our judgments spill our fully formed in milliseconds: “Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov of Princeton have found that people can make snap judgments about a person’s trustworthiness, competence, aggressiveness and likability within the first tenth of a second. These sorts of first glimpses are astonishingly accurate in predicting how people will feel about each other months later. People rarely revise their first impression, they just become more confident that they are right. In other research, Todorov gave his subjects microsecond glimpses of the faces of competing politicians. His research subjects could predict, with 70 percent accuracy, who would win the election between the two candidates.”


Willis and Todorov found that we respond intutitively to faces in ways so fast and rapid that our rational, reasoned, critical thinking mind has little contribution to our decision. Todorov says, "We decide very quickly whether a person possesses many of the traits we feel are important, such as likeability and competence, even though we have not exchanged a single word with them.  It appears that we are hard-wired to draw these inferences in a fast, unreflective way."  There is that saying, "who and what is the face of your program?" I guess this suggests that 'our face' matters to whether people will like us, trust, believe in us.

So we have microseconds to prove our worth. “No pressure there!” Even if we have a longer span of time, the research suggests that the first impression is substantially durable and important. So the pressure is on-- those first impressions matter and for what it’s worth, my advice is to intensively prepare so you feel like you can control the message that young people get about your program, but then I have a hunch it comes down to something like this.

One of our veteran teen coaches walks into the room alongside one of the new recruits. As he walks in he catches a glimpse of our program director and he lights up and they greet each other with a warm hand clasp. “How is it going,” asks the program director with a warm and effusive smile. “Going great,” says the veteran. “I’ve been to school everyday this week.”  I watched the newbie taking this all in and I could literally imagine his brain doing the high-level algorithms that go into a snap judgment. “Is this a place I want to be?  Are these people that I can be around? Will I belong?” My sense is that you can design a first day with appropriate ice breakers, snappy handouts, clear expectations, but the spirit and soul of a program is discerned through the currents of connection and relationship that can’t be as easily and intentionally choreographed.

What do you do to make your program launch successfully? How do you think about the crucial and pivotal decision about the 'face' of your program?

Project Coach at Camp Cromwell with BCNY!

July 20, 2011

During July 2011, the Project Coach team visited the Camp Cromwell, NJ, summer camp of the Boy’s Club of New York, to implement an intensive one-week PC program for urban youth and elementary school-aged participants.

Over the course of the initial intensive training weekend, youth coaches learned the fundamentals of becoming an effective coach and an inspired role-model as they received instruction in the Project Coach Academy curriculum.

Central to the successful implementation of this curriculum were the 2011-12 cohort of new graduate ‘redshirts’, who showed incredible energy and devotion as they forged long-lasting relationships quickly with their young charges.

The true test of the growth of this impressive cadre of youth coaches came during the week, when they led high-energy, action-packed basketball and soccer sessions for over 130 younger members from BCNY.

Special thanks go to Megan Vandeventer, Director of Program Development at BCNY, and the wonderful team of staff in Martinsville, led by Camp Director Fred Guzman. The week proved to be a tremendous success, and Project Coach looks forward to working with BCNY again in the near future.

Check out the thoughts of new PC "redshirts" below....

Jason Anderson:

The PC training in New Jersey was simply awesome. We not only bonded as a grad school cohort, but forged meaningful relationships with all of our teen coaches. Chris, Tyler, Ish, Joe, Joseph, Gabriel, Big B, Claude, Bishop, Apollo, Ruben, Charles and Gris became my friends, and Tom, Ashely, Cait, Brian, Katie, Taylor and Andy became family. Learning, practicing and witnessing the Project Coach model (and philosophy) in action, all of us were forced to think on our feet and really reflect on what makes a strong, positive role model and leader. Every day Andy encouraged us to keep stepping it up, and every day the group went big. None of us were the same at the end of that week and, honestly, I don't know which was more inspiring: watching the transformation of the NYC teenagers, or that of my fellow Smith students.  After the epiphany of seeing what can happen in seven days, I know we are all excited for an entire school year in Springfield. I can't wait to get started.

Tom Messinger:

I was incredibly impressed with the coaches from BCNY we got the opportunity to work with at Camp Cromwell this weekend. The coaches came in mature beyond their years and already living the core principals of the Project Coach curriculum, yet they still poured everything they had into the training, and improved by leaps and bounds. It was very powerful for me to see that by the second day working with the elementary school kids, all three of the BCNY coaches I was working close with were ready to take over and lead their own teams without my assistance, which is not an easy task whatsoever. They all were willing and eager to step up to the challenge and accept responsibility, and they all succeeded. My only regret is that we will not have an opportunity to continue our work with the BCNY Coaches in the immediate future, but I have no doubt that these young men will be such positive influences in their clubhouses, communities and families.

Brian Quadrozzi:


The past week spent at Project Coach in Martinsville, NJ was eye-opening to say the least. Maybe not so much for me, as I have come from that place and have continually beared witness to the fact that success and the ability to succeed in life both in confidence and ability is not entirely dependent on ones social economic status, but rather on a person's innate ability to recognize that greater opportunities await them - if they want them. The young men from inner city NYC proved this to me beyond a doubt. They all recognized that in order to succeed - both in the program and in life, one must possess a "fire", a burning desire to prove to oneself, and those around you, that simply - you can. You can "change your stars' , you can put yourself on a trajectory that will empower you with a sense of discipline, responsibility, and committment - that will blur the lines between one's academic and personal lives. Hopefully through the sports empowerment programs that we ran all this week - they have realized that.

On a personal note, the young men we were working with really inspired me. They inspired me with their lack of a "woe is me" attitude that seems to permeate people who come from the inner city. No one complained, no one made excuses - and my coach specifically, who I found out had both lost a father and a role model back to back - but you would have never known. These kids were stronger than I ever could have imagined. 

Katie Joyce


The Project Coach training at Camp Cromwell was an incredible success.  The teenage coaches from the Boys Club of New York impressed us all with their maturity, willingness to challenge themselves, and ability to develop such strong coaching skills over the course of only a week.  The Project Coach curriculum brought out the best in the coaches by helping them to work together, to encourage each other, and to critique themselves in order to improve. The experience of helping to train the coaches at Camp Cromwell built my own confidence in my abilities as a mentor for high school students.  Our week together enabled me get to know and to learn from my fellow gradate student.  I am very enthusiastic about the upcoming year where we will work together in Springfield.

Project Coach Fellows - Week One Recap

During the first week of their Project Coach experience, new Fellows were immersed in a variety of different activities designed to orientate them to the program, its goals, and its values. As a part of this, they also had the opportunity to spend some time with six veteran PC youth coaches, as well as learn some valuable teambuilding and ice-breaking activities from Coach Mike Dean.

Their thoughts on an action-packed first week can be found below. Full biographical information on the 2011-12 cohort can be found here.

Jason Anderson:

Last Thursday was a big one for us PC Fellows. The morning's team-building games were fantastic. I probably learned more about my cohort in two hours than I had in the previous two days. Mike did a great job of involving everyone and keeping things (and us) moving, often literally. Our afternoon CPR-First Aid training was great, as well. Matt made the exercises engaging, boosting our (by that point somewhat fatigued) spirits with humor and positive energy. My favorite part of the day, though, was simply meeting--and getting to hang out with--the Blue Shirts from Springfield. Ish, Loeb, Julian, Hassan, Kiana and Jon were really fun to work alongside, and it made me all the more excited for our time together this upcoming school year. 

Caitlin Scudder:

During the two-hour morning session, Mike taught us probably 20 different ice-breaker/introductory games. These games not only got our blood pumping and our mind's firing, a great way to begin the long day we had ahead of us, but it showed us first-hand the effectiveness of such games to really get a group feeling comfortable with each other. Within the first fifteen minutes, we all knew each other's names, hometowns, favorite movie, and a collection of other obscure facts and idiosyncrasies. With Mike directing a leading us, providing clear and confident directions, we gelled instantly, jumping right into the activities and every 'problem' or 'challenge' he placed before us.

With such a productive and engaging morning, emphasizing team-building and activity-learning, we could not wait to meet the coaches. When they all arrived, and we were gathered in a circle, looking quite similar to the smaller circle the fellows began with in the morning, it was time for practice to be put into action. Time to introduce ourselves and get to know one another! I was caught totally off-guard, though, when Brian tossed the ball to me, and asked me to lead the first activity. Talk about being put on the spot! After a milli-second of feeling nervous and uncertain, that feeling quickly disappeared as I looked around the room at all the bright and eager faces looking back at me, and at each other. They just wanted to dive in!  And dive in we did. All that morning practice of activity leading had led up to this moment-- time to introduce myself, speak clearly and brightly, name the game, and begin! Needless to say, the introductions flowed easily, producing lots of laughs, smiles and ebullient joy all around. It was an amazing first day. I can't wait for the year to begin!

Taylor Stevens:

My experiences so far in both Project Coach and the MAT program have been really great. I think that doing the CPR class with six of the blue shirts was a really good way to begin our introductions with some of the most involved Project Coach coaches. They all seemed excited to be there, and I hope that they thought that we were going to be fun to work with this year. It was cool to all be on the same level as far as experience with First Aid and CPR, especially since they are going to be much more experienced in the coaching aspect of the program. I am excited to put what we have learned into practice in New Jersey, though I have to admit that I am nervous about being thrown out there to put what we have learned to the test. Last week made me PUMPED about getting to know each of the students, working together with them, and learning a lot from them in many areas.

Katie Joyce:

Our first day meeting as Project Coach Fellows and introducing ourselves to some of the coaches motivated me to learn as much as I can from the many interesting people I will be surrounded by this year.  The coaches struck me as a very mature and attentive group of teenagers who paid attention while keeping a good sense of humor during our long CPR training.  Their presence made the afternoon much more enjoyable and I am excited to get to know them better in the fall.

I also learned more about our class of fellows during the icebreakers in the morning and realized that we bring many experiences and strong personality traits to the program.  I am honored to have the opportunity to work with such a passionate group of people and am looking forward to forming friendships with each of them.

Ashley Niles:

The one word that comes to my mind when I think about PC is, passion. It is clear to me that everyone involved with PC is extremely dedicated to the young people that the program serves. It has become more and more obvious that this program is not primarily about creating better athletes and coaches, but more about creating a better life for the young people involved. Over the past week I have learned that my most important job in this program is to develop strong relationships with the youth coaches. Each day I learn more about my role as a "red shirt" and each day I get more and more excited about beginning to build relationships with the PC participants. 

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