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Post by calkayne on Jul 31, 2014 16:46:17 GMT -6
Hi Coaches,
Both my wife and myself have been talking about a plan to reach out to kids in our community and using Football as a positive experience to help these kids lead better lives.
Our goal is to reach out to Juvenile Detention Centers, Outreach programs and other groups that care for affected kids as well as reaching out to the schools around us. We are wanting to gather a large group of kids and give them an opportunity to practice and play football if not a season then at least host charity games. The purpose being to give these kids a safe environment that they otherwise would not have.
Has anyone here done this sort of project or similar before? I would certainly like to learn from your experiences.
We can see that there is a large demand on back room support and we where wondering what sort of roles you found to be vital and what to look out for.
Thanks in advance guys!
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Post by shocktroop34 on Jul 31, 2014 20:51:57 GMT -6
I haven't done the juvenile detention thing. I like your mindset in regard to helping young people, but that one (depending on what type of community/admin support you have)there may be some risk/liability issues to sift through. If the juveniles pose a health/safety risk, it might get shot down. But here are some ideas I've done in the past with great success:
1) Retirement home: We did some athletic stuff, ran through some plays "on air", and then sat down and had ice cream with the residents. We sat and listened to stories of the past and spent some quality time with them. We invited a local paper to cover the event. Went over BIG TIME with the community. People talked about it for weeks.
2) Animal shelter: We went and helped clean cages, feed and groom animals. Fun time bonding with kids off the field.
3) Reading program: We took players on game day (in jerseys) down to the elementary school and read books to them. Promoting literacy goes over very well with the admin and board members.
4) If I were dealing with Juvenile's I would consider a "pen pal" program. Again, nothing against wayward kids who need mentoring/support but in this day of litigation and fear, there may be an effective way to make an impact without exposing kids or yourself to unnecessary trouble.
5) Visiting a hospital: There may be an issue here where the hospital may not want the kids to be exposed to germs or certain conditions and vice versa, but if you can find a way to visit, this is always a good way to go.
6) Finding a veteran or the wife of a soldier who is deployed and doing some yardwork. Sends a nice message to our troops and goes a long way with the military supporters.
Just a few off the top of the dome.
I did a lot of this stuff when I had some struggling programs. I may have been the dumba$$ who couldn't win many games, but I was also the guy who sat and ate ice cream with somebody's grandmother and hugged sick children on dialysis. It's hard to cuss a guy like that.
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