We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jerita Mitchell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jerita, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?

I was looking for work that aligned with the Kinesiology degree I just earned from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, La. Upon searching on Indeed, I came across a coaching opportunity with Up2Us Sports that made mention of AmeriCorps. Being slightly familiar with the benefits of serving as an AmeriCorps Member and having an interest in community health and wellness, I applied for the position and started my first term serving as an assistant PE coach and Girls’ middle school volleyball, basketball, and track coach in a school in New Orleans. After a successful first term, I returned for a second term of service and from there saw an opportunity to join the full time staff at Up2Us Sports. That was over 4 years ago now, and I am beyond grateful for the journey I have been on and to see all the impact we’ve made and all that I have gained over the years.

My goals/aspirations at the time were to gain as much experience as I could in health,wellness and education with goals of becoming a Clinical Registered Exercise Physiologist and starting a community health education program. Prior to this experience, I actually always told people I would never work with kids, but this is why they say, “never say never.” I started coaching to figure out what was next beyond college and to reap the benefits of the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award you receive upon completing a term of service with Up2Us Sports. I loved to serve and have served within my community for as long as I could remember, but I just knew working with youth was not going to be an end game for me. Until my first day at the school came, and a 7th grade female student walked up to me at the end of the school day and said, “Are you going to come back tomorrow?” That question completely shifted the trajectory of my journey from a more clinical field to becoming the mentor I am today through my continued coaching and mentorship as an Up2Us Sports Program Director.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Up2Us Sports was founded in 2010 by our Founder and CEO Paul Caccamo, and is the nationwide leader in engaging and training sports-based youth development coaches, practitioners, and organizations to address the most pressing issues facing youth in under-resourced urban communities. Up2Us Sports does this through the following programs: Up2Us Coach, Up2Us VISTA and Up2Us Training.

The Up2Us Coach program is the first and only national service program that identifies, trains, and places coaches in community-based organizations across the U.S. The Up2Us VISTA program identifies, trains, and places young people as capacity building service members in sports-based youth development organizations across the country. The Up2Us Training program offers dynamic, participatory, and evidence-based coach training to practitioners and partner organizations throughout the U.S.

As the Program Director leading the work in Louisiana, predominantly in New Orleans, we serve youth in NOLA Public Schools and local community-based organizations, such as Girls on the Run. Our AmeriCorps Members serve as coaches supporting youth during recess, physical education classes, sports-based behavioral interventions, and after school activities. Our coaches are supported through a trauma-sensitive training program provided by Up2Us Sports’ Training Team and ongoing on the ground support by the program managers and directors.

We are most proud of our ability to positively impact youth and programs by providing them with a caring adult relationship through a coach-mentor, as well as providing an opportunity to serve and give back to a young adult from within the same community.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A BIG lesson I had to unlearn was that I do not have to make everything happen by myself and I do not need to be everything to everyone.

There was a point where I was burning out and not quite recognizing the signs and symptoms of burnout. I continued to push forward, even when my body was telling me to stop. I came to a point where I felt super defeated even though things around me were still up to par, so I sat down with my parents and told them that I was tired and did not know how much more I could go and then I sat with my supervisor and told him the same. My parents recommended I take a vacation and my supervisor recommended I use my PTO (which was capped, because I rarely took time off) and rest and process my feelings before coming back to work. He also mentioned that we were a team, and though as a staff we do not all reside in the same city, we always have each other’s backs. So while I stepped away from my responsibilities, my family took care of my home responsibilities and my colleagues took care of my work responsibilities and now two years later, here I am still able to continue on with a new habit of filling my cup before pouring into someone else and understanding the importance of asking for help, when needed.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I believe being passionate about the work and the community is the most helpful tool in succeeding in sports-based youth development and nonprofit work in general.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.up2us.org/
• Instagram: up2ussports