Durham Sports United Project

Durham Sports United is a community initiative investing in Durham’s young athletes. The athletic experience s a natural learning environment for developing leadership skills, empathy-building and increasing overall community mental, physical and emotional health.

The vision is to unify and engage high school athletes from public, private and charter schools who share a common values of Community, Integrity, Accountability, Resilience, and Perseverance. We are seeking out community collaborators to make this vision a reality.

Target Audience: athletes who are in the esteem-building and self-actualization stage of motivation in their sport development. 

Outcome Benefits:

• Become a better athlete and better citizen.
• Develop better communication skills.
• Reduce anxiety/depression and boost resilience in the high school to college transition. 
• Enhance recruitability if college sport participation is desired.
• Connect your voice to Durham leaders in order to gain future employment and mentorship opportunities

Curriculum:

1. Athletic Curriculum 
   1. Name, Image, and Likeness Understanding.
   2. Social Media Power You Have.
   3. Mistakes happen! What to do. 
   4. Injury Prevention.
   5. Strength and Conditioning.
2. Team Building Curriculum 
   1. Activism in Sport; History. 
   2. Abuse reporting and consulting. What is abuse?
   3. Gender bias. 
   4. Building excellence, inclusively.
   5. Anti-racism.
3. Community Building Curriculum
   1. What is Civic Engagement?
   2. Your Voice.
   3. Advocacy and Allies.
   4. Consulting and Communication.
4. Leadership Curriculum 
   1. Fun athletic events to keep your heart pumping.
   2. Universal competitive games for cross training.
   3. Meet n’ Greet with City Leaders / Open Discourse. 

How does this benefit the Durham Community?

Durham wants to BE STRONG:

• Build future leaders of Durham regardless of background, income, neighborhood, or previous experience. 
• Empower teens in civic Engagement.
• Showcase Durham’s competitive sports teams.
• Build greater Trust with accountability and transparency.
• See anti-racism in action. 
• Open minds to possibilities of community yet to be imagined. 
• Network for future employers across public and private sectors.   
• Educate our youth on their rights. 

Committee Leaders: Jacki Silar, David Stein and Jen Oldham. Email jen@forgeteams.org if interested in sponsoring this program.