Breakfast Club Blog

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is a curated space where bloggers from around the world contribute content on a continual basis about a variety of topics relevant to in and out-of-school time. The BOOST Breakfast Club blog is at the heart of an ongoing dialogue where expanded learning and education professionals share their personal thoughts and stories from the in and out-of-school time field. They also tell us what they ate for breakfast!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Enjoy the brain food.

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is Brain Food for In and Out-of-School Time Leaders!

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Catching Grit

Grit is defined on paper as “courage and resolve; strength of character.” My son, Oliver, turned 13 a few months ago and recently received an opportunity to demonstrate what it means in practice. He has played Irvine Pony League baseball since he was seven. I never asked him if he wanted to play. I signed him up because I wanted to share the experience with him. I threw him a thousand pitches in the park before he ever played his first game. He started in 2016, playing at the “Pinto Machine Pitc...Read More

From Toddlers to Teens! Let Them Play!

  If you are an 80’s baby, you probably played with a toy kitchen set. I did. When I was four years old, Santa brought me a kitchen set for Christmas. With a big grin on my face, I served my family plastic chicken drumsticks and fake pieces of yellow corn on the cob.  My mom would pretend to chew the food and comment “Umm Tiana this is sooo good.” Unaware of my actions, I was emulating my mom and pretending to be a big girl.  As I reminisce about this experience, I discover how critical pla...Read More

Sports as a Vehicle for Mentorship

I have been playing sports my entire life. I credit the sport of soccer for the individual that I am today! Since the beginning, playing soccer in Peru and the United States, I have been blessed to have some incredible mentors in my life. I vividly remember my father Williams Marchesi spending time with me every single afternoon after his work day, working on basic soccer skills while he passed down history, culture, and lessons learned. What I remember most about this time is what he taught me ...Read More

An Instant Activity Blueprint to Get All Kids Moving

It’s a fact. Kids need physical activity. Frequent physical activity has been linked to a variety of positive developmental outcomes for kids, including improved health, cognition, and even behavior. As “fitness mentors” it’s important we provide kids ample opportunities to be active throughout the day. While this sounds good in theory, the time, space, and equipment we have available to inspire kids to be active may be limited. Not to mention, we can quickly run out of ideas as little bodies an...Read More

Coaching And Endless Possibilities

A quick story and important reminder about how important a good coach is, and what the possibilities are when you have a great coach. My son, who is in first grade, played rookie tackle football this fall. The season ended a few weeks ago, with his team winning the 1st-grade championship. It was a spectacular finish to the season—they got to play the game on the high school football field. Our town’s high school football team won the state championship last year, and so football is a pretty big ...Read More

#GirlsAre Builders, Explorers and Adventurers

This month the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and the Clinton Foundation are joining forces to inspire a new generation of strong active women. Girls are fierce, but we know that by age 14, girls drop out of sports two times faster than boys and less than 50% of 12-15 year old girls get the recommended amount of physical activity. To celebrate #GirlsAre, I reached out to nine leaders who are helping to flip this script. This group of nine are builders, explorers and adventurers, stretching ...Read More

Growth Mindset: Losing is the New Winning

Spending more than half of my life in and out of a locker room, one gets very used to sound of competition. Sayings like, “failure is not an option” and “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing,” were common echoes in my upbringing. From one coach to the next, it was always about winning, getting better, playing your best, minimizing mistakes, practice makes perfect, etc., etc. It’s no wonder that I wanted to quit after losing my first soccer game ...Read More