New Program: Champions Choose Love
Inspire athletes to make the right decisions ON and OFF the field!
We are pleased to announce our newest program, Champions Choose Love. This a no-cost athletic-inspired SEL program is geared for athletic directors of schools and all types of athletic programs to bring SEL to youth and teen athletes. The program inspires sportsmanship, builds character and teaches vital life skills.
Champions Choose Love is modeled after the Choose Love Enrichment Program and focuses on the SEL skills that can be used to develop self-awareness, strengthen relationships, and develop responsible decision-making. The program is designed for athletic directors and coaches to lead groups of team captions and team leaders so they may learn to lead by Choosing Love.
The program uses the Choose Love Formula — Courage + Gratitude + Forgiveness + Compassion in Action = Choosing Love – to help athletes become Champions, regardless of the outcome of the competition. Champions Choose Love has five lessons focusing on the Choose Love Formula and its relation to sports leadership. Supplemental resources include a Mentor Manual and a Team Leader Journal which provide follow up questions and activities.
The program looks at important strengths that can improve attitudes and relationships. Champions Choose Love challenges athletes to look inside their hearts and challenge themselves to Choose Love and be a true Champion.
Beyond simply winning games, a coach’s purpose is to improve an athlete’s skill, inspire camaraderie, and encourage friendly competition. When coaches focus on the social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs of the whole child, they help youth athletes feel safe and supported, they foster important traits such as responsibility and perseverance, they guide them in building an emotional foundation for success, and they teach teammates to respect and listen to one another.
“You can’t always choose what happens to you, but you can always choose how you respond and you can respond by Choosing Love. We are empowering our athletic teams across the country to lead with Love. This season look inside your heart and challenge yourself to Choose Love and be a true Champion,” stated Scarlett Lewis, Chief Movement Officer of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement.
The hallmark of a high-quality sports experience is often a young person’s relationship with a coach, yet only 36 percent of youth coaches surveyed say they have received training in effective motivational techniques. Sports, which combine physical activity and play, represent an important environment to intentionally build important skills such as teamwork and cooperation, empathy, and planning and problem solving — just to name a few. However, it is important to remember that the development of these skills requires intentional effort and a structured approach.
“I am so excited to be a part of this program. The lessons learned are invaluable. There is so much pressure on athletes today to be better, to work harder, and to win, that teaching young athletes how to cope, how to be gracious and reassess what is really important is essential,” said Steve Canter, Champions Choose Love video narrator, former college and high school football coach and founder of The CanterZone LLC.
Champions Choose Love teaches the skills to be resilient in the face of adversity, and to have a positive, confident attitude, all of the things that make a Champion.
