Blog Brief

YSCN blogs feature articles, research, and case studies on relevant issues in administration, collaboration, funding and youth development facing nonprofit sports-based youth development organizations.  Only Members have access to the full blog postings.

This section provides brief summaries of selected posted blogs available to members. We welcome new contributions from members and non members. Blog ideas should be sent to [email protected].

Different Sports, Same Challenges: Growing a Sports-based Youth Development Program: A written summary of a session organized by YSCN for the 2019 Urban Soccer Symposium. Symposium featured a panel of five Executive Directors/Founders discussing the key tactics and strategies they used to grow their youth development sports program.

5 Potential Danger Zones in the Young Athlete, Wendy LeBolt, PhD, Founder, Fit2Finish provides age-appropriate and sport-specific training to reduce injuries and improves performance. Kids need a challenge but they also need special handling. Why? Because they’re growing, and growing presents special challenges and unique demands. They’re not mini-adults meant to comply with a scaled down version of an adult exercise prescription. And they aren’t immune to the illness and injury that can come from too much, too fast; in fact they’re especially susceptible.

The Making of a Long Term Partnership Between DC Scores and DC United, Bethany Rubin Henderson, Executive Director, DC Scores. Extreme inequality of opportunity exists for DC schoolchildren. 48% of DC children (~25,000 kids), primarily children of color, live in low-income households, qualify for free or reduced lunch, and attend Title I public schools where 75% of kids are not on grade level in literacy or math. It is at the core of DC SCORES’ mission and the heart of D.C. United’s community orientation to tackle these inequalities. After many years of the two organizations working together side-by-side, a partnership began in the Fall of 2015 to support the 2015 – 2016 school year. 

How Nonprofits Use Strategic Planning to Accomplish Missions is a text summary of an April 28, 20016 podcast interview with Dr. Rob Sheehan of the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. Summary explains five important principles for making a nonprofit's strategic plan a tool for aligning leaders and the staff to determine whether the nonprofit is supporting and meeting the goals of the strategic plan. The podcast is produced by Raffa, a nonprofit consulting firm specializing in finance, management, accounting, and technology.  

Eight Best Practices for Major Giving: A free, succinct 13-page e-book reviewing for nonprofit organizations 8 key steps for organizing their major donor fund raising efforts published by DonorPerfect, a donor management software company. 

The Value of Sports: November 22, 1982 letter from from former Tennesse women’s college basketball coach Pat Summit to a freshman before her first game explains the importance of sports to how one learns how to compete in life. Pat Summit, passed away June 28, 2016 at age 64 after a five-year battle with early-onset of Alzheimer’s disease. She won eight national championships and had 1,098 victories when she stepped down at age 59. Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins wrote an inspiring column on Coach Summit entitled “The game is never over: …” 

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