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Play Like a Champion

John Paul II Catholic School Athletics and The University of Notre Dame's Play Like A ChampionToday have been in partnership since 2023. JPII's Assistant Athletic Director and Head Varsity Baseball Coach, Stephen Gaylets kicked off the partnership by completing the Educational Series at The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. 

Play Like A Champion Today is dedicated to providing leadership in a worldwide effort to change the culture of youth sports through education and consultancy. Since 2006, Play Like A Champion Today has served over 130,000 coaches and parents through a network of 230+ partners across the United States and Canada. Play Like A Champion Today moves beyond the "X's and O's" of coaching to address the core elements of effective coaching. The JPII Athletic Department utilizes the Play Like A ChampionToday "GROW" approach: Goals + Relationships + Ownership = Winning

Coach Gaylets implemented the first ever JPII Parent Like A Champion Today and JPII Coach LikeA Champion Today Clinic in 2023. Coach Gaylets aims to meet with every parent who has a child in an athletic program at JPII. Through these trainings, parents will have the opportunity to complete their Parent Like A Champion Today workshop. Coach Gaylets also meets with every JPII coach throughout the year, so that they will not only complete their training but continue to hear the message from Play Like AChampion Today. 

JPII Athletics and Play Like A Champion Today

  • Mission-Driven Athletics
  • Building Character in Athletes through Sports
  • Forming Teams as Moral Communities
  • Trauma-Informed Best Coaching Practices
  • The Spirituality of Sport
  • The GROW Approach to Athlete Motivation
  • Whole Adolescent Development
  • Promoting Faith Formation through Sports

Scientifically based and ethically directed, Play Like A Champion Today and JPII designs its educational and athletic programs to promote children's physical, social, emotional and moral development to last a lifetime.

https://www.playlikeachampion.org/

The Parent Like A Champion Today workshop

curriculum and handbook aim to:

  1. Identify what to look for in a positive sports program and what parents can expect from a well-formed coach.
  2. Alert parents to behaviors that contribute to toxic sports climates and provide alternative supportive and positive behaviors.
  3. Offer strategies for parents to emphasize character development in their child's sports journey.
  4. Provide parents with advice on nutrition, exercise, and motivation that can help their children develop wellness habits of physical literacy to last a lifetime.

Play Like A Champion Today Coach Clinics are nationally accredited by NCACE