2018 Developing Leaders Program
TALENI
I'm 17-years old and my favorite colors are red, black, and white. I love sports and and stay busy by playing football, volleyball, baseball, basketball, and ultimate Frisbee. I'm from an island called Pago Pago in America Samoa. My favorite number is fourteen. I'll be starting my Sophomore year at Burton High school in the fall of 2018. I went to Visitacion Valley Middle School and that’s where I started playing ultimate Frisbee in September 2016 through Ultimate Impact. This is my second summer working for Ultimate Impact as a Junior Coach and it's awesome that we've grown and are now coaching more than 200 kids per week. I love catching the disc in the air but my favorite part about ultimate is throwing. One of the many things I like about ultimate is that you get to learn new things like cool throws and Spirit of the Game. One of my best skills is making friends and connecting with new people. I volunteered for the Student Council at Vis Valley and used my skills to get people involved with sports and school activities. I was the captain of the Vis Valley ultimate team and am working to get a team started at Burton High School.
IZZY
I just finished my first year at Mission High school and went the entire year with a 4.0 GPA. I was a student athlete that played football and next year as a sophomore I’ll be on the varsity team. This is my second summer to be part of Ultimate Impact and I now feel that I’m a leader in the organization. I admire Rocky for what he has done and how he has expanded and improved the organization. I feel that I was an important part of the first stages of building Ultimate Impact and I look forward to how we can change lives through our work. I admire Martin Luther King Jr because he made the equality movement for Blacks a reality. I also admire Malcolm X because he was wise and wasn’t afraid to use freedom of speech to make a difference. I’m proud that I’m a leader, mentor, athlete, good friend, and I’m proud to be part of something that will be huge some day.
KASEY
My name is Kasey, I’m 14 years old, and I’ve lived in San Francisco my whole life. I graduated from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School in 2018 with a 4.0 GPA. I will be attending Balboa High School and will be on target to graduate in 2022. Sports are important to me because i can exercise have fun and hang with my friends and the sports I played i middle school are softball, basketball and I also ran track for all three years of middle school. I was a manager of the girls volleyball team in 2017. The things I like about ultimate Frisbee is how we communicate with our teammates on and off the field. I also enjoy learning new skills through the sport that I can use in life. When I’m coaching I get to teach kids a whole new sport they have probably never heard of and I get to connect and mentor them. Being part of Ultimate Impact has taught me a lot of social and physical skills that I will use in high school and beyond in my future career/job. For Ultimate Impact this summer, I coached at Paul Revere Elementary School, Aim High, and Gilman Playground. I also helped build the volunteer database and set the framework for the Ultimate Impact girl’s team.
BASIL
I attend Burton High School where I’m in the 11th grade. I was born in Hawaii, moved to San Hose when I was three, and then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area when i was 14. My hobbies include playing ultimate frisbee, other sports like basketball, and gaming on my computer. I also make clay action figures and love boxing. I hope to attend college at University of Oregon to play ultimate Frisbee while studying fire engineering. I want to become a firefighter to save lives like my uncles. I like to coach ultimate Frisbee because it brings me joy to teach others and share the ultimate experience. Ultimate Impact means so much to me because it is a family where everyone is welcome, I can meet new people, and make new friends. For the 2018 summer, my roles and responsibilities are coaching, coordinating our high school team, making videos, and capturing very special moments on camera for Ultimate Impact.
EDWIN
My name is Edwin and I am 14 years old. I’ve lived in San Francisco my whole life and graduated from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School in 2018 as a 4.0 GPA student. In the fall, I will attend Abraham Lincoln High School as a freshman and will graduate in 2022. I won two student athlete awards in 2017 and 2018 playing baseball, running track and field, and I was also a manager for the girls basketball team. I first learned about ultimate Frisbee in February in 2018 from a teacher that played ultimate. She gave me the opportunity to join Ultimate Impact’s practice and ultimate has now become my new favorite sport. I’ve improved my athletic abilities through ultimate and I’ve also worked on my communication skills. My favorite thing about ultimate is the opportunity to run deep and catch a huck for a score. Being a Junior Coach for Ultimate Impact is a great opportunity because it’s not only teaching kids the skills of playing ultimate, it’s also great to see kids come back every week with a smile on their face and ready to learn and play more. Ultimate Impact will forever have a impact on my life because it has taught me to learn a new sport, become a better teammate on the field, and most importantly, become a better person. My goal as a athlete is to win a championship as a an ultimate player also go as far as possible with baseball. My summer project for Ultimate Impact was to create a Junior Coach Playbook for coaches to learn from our experiences. The playbook will highlight the drills, games, and activities that the Junior Coaches have learned this summer. I’m also helping the team coach more than 200 kids per week this summer!
HENRY
I just graduated from Visitacion Valley Middle School and am headed to Burton High School in the fall. I liked my middle school experience because I had a lot of friends. Everyday at lunch I used to play soccer with my friends. One day, Rocky was practicing throws and caught my attention. I left soccer to learn how to throw like Rocky and was invited to join the Ultimate Impact team for a tournament and then months later as a Junior Coach for my first job.
I enjoy playing ultimate Frisbee because I can play with friends while putting in a lot of hard work to keep improving. My future goal is to be an engineer who repairs airplanes, tanks, and boats for the military. I like being an ultimate Frisbee coach because I get to teach young kids the right steps to follow so they can be successful in life and learn how to be in a community. Ultimate Impact is important to me because I have the opportunity to work with friends in a comfortable environment where I can learn life skills. Through my work at Ultimate Impact, I coordinated a tournament for elementary, middle, and high school players plus helped the team coach more than 200 kids each week during the summer.
