It\u2019s time to go back to school, and all across the Playworks nation, our regional teams have been gearing up for a strong start. In San Francisco, energy and expectations are high. The program team worked hard on recruitment this summer, adding 22 new staff and AmeriCorps coaches to our handful of solid returners, and expanding our TeamUp partnership to 12 schools across three school districts.<\/p>\n
After a Friday afternoon meet-and-greet with office staff and board members, coaches convened the morning of August 17 at Bret Harte Elementary to mark the official start of pre-service. In true Playworks fashion, things kicked off with a bang: a few rounds of icebreakers, a rundown of our core values, some team-building activities, and lots and lots of games. Over the next two weeks, coaches practiced the game implementation skills and proactive group management strategies that will make them playground rockstars, and they attended sessions to help mentally prepare them for some of the challenges they\u2019ll face this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pumped,\u201d says first-year coach Sophia Rutkin.
\n\u201cI\u2019m feeling a lot of confidence,\u201d adds Donna Chan. \u201cI\u2019m ready to put this stuff to use.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coaches got a small opportunity to do just that during the second week of pre-service; they spent two days visiting their schools before reuniting as a group on Wednesday to discuss their experiences. And although many acknowledged that the year ahead would be no easy task, all remained excited to embrace the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first day was really long,\u201d reports Adam Glasser. \u201cI was at school until six o’clock\u00a0getting things organized, but as I left, I overheard a student telling her mom, ‘the new Playworks coach likes me, and I like him, too!’<\/em>\u201d Adam smiles from ear to ear as he tells his story. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to go back,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"region":[],"class_list":["post-353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n