Americorps Assistant Cycling and Fitness Coach

I Challenge Myself, a nonprofit organization in NYC, seeks to fill one (1) Americorps Coach Across America (CAA) Assistant Cycling and Fitness Coach to provide onsite assistance to teachers and students. The CAA will play a vital role to integrate life skills and college readiness programming into the Cycling Smarts and Summer College Bike Tour programs.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and lead new fitness, nutrition or active living, college readiness workshops 1-2 days per week
• Assist in outdoor bicycle rides and cross fitness training program
• Participate in training sessions at ICM and partner organizations
• Co-Organize the Winter Fitness Challenge in January, Century Ride in June and College Bike Tour in July
• Coordinate and co-lead tours to private colleges and universities in the Tri-state area
• Facilitate monthly reflection activities with students
• Coordinate bike tune-ups at their assigned schools.
• Disseminate, collect and input student attendance data, student enrollment data and evaluation surveys into ICM Salesforce database and generate reports.
• Participate in project evaluation activities (

COACH ACROSS AMERICA REQUIREMENTS

• United States citizen or permanent resident alien
• Ability to commit to 900 hours of service/ 20-21 hours/week (to be completed within 11 months) from Aug 1, 2013- July, 31, 2014

WHAT YOU WILL GAIN

• $7,200 living allowance
• $2,775 education award (for members who complete 900 hours of service)
• Professional development training
• Student loan forbearance (on qualifying student loans)
• Access to a large network of SBYD organizations for future career development and networking
• Leadership skills
• Vacation and sick time
• First Aid/CPR Certification

ELIGIBILIGITY REQUIREMENTS

• A high school degree and/or college degree (preferred)
• At least three years of experience in at least one sport (coaching experience preferred)

• Must be a very strong bicyclist with good familiarity of cycling routes in NYC;
• Experience working with adolescents and sports, specifically bicycling, swimming, indoor spinning, weight training
• Basic bike repair skills
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of team
• Strong knowledge of MSWord, MSExcel, MSPowerPoint
• Strong presentation, facilitation, oral and writing skills
• Must have a valid driver's license and comfortable driving 16-passenger van or 20ft. moving truck
• Must be available to co-lead or attend weekday afternoons (2:00- 6PM 4 days per week) and Saturday or Sunday training rides during school year;
• Ability to lift weights over 20 lbs

Preferred Qualifications:

• AED/CPR and First Aid certification.
• LCI certification a plus. (Adventure Cycling or NOLS certification are highly desirable.)
• Familiarity with Salesforce, web design and/or film editing software a plus.
• Bilingual Spanish/English a plus.

ABOUT I CHALLENGE MYSELF

Through the Cycling Smarts and Summer College Bike Tour programs I Challenge Myself is working to curb the growing childhood obesity epidemic, to more strongly connect students to their peers, teachers and school and to increase students' readiness to attend college and the workforce. Cycling Smarts is offered as an elective class at 4 public high schools in the Bronx and Manhattan and employs the following activities to reach the above objectives:

• Weekly cross-training sessions (indoor spinning, outdoor cycling, resistance training) 3-5 days a week.
• End of semester challenges: 3-hour Winter Fitness Challenge in January and a 1-day 100-mile bike ride in June.
• Participation bike rides after school and longer rides on weekends during warm months
• workshops that connect academic concepts with physical activities (e.g. track aerobic heart rate, map reading, application of physics, math and anatomy of the human body, etc.).
• Monthly self reflection and goal setting activities to help set attainable goals for the fitness challenges.

The Summer College Bike Tour is a 10-day program structured in two parts: (1) 5-day college preparatory sessions in NYC consisting of training rides in the morning and college preparatory in the afternoon; and (2) 5-day bike tour to colleges in the NY Area. Each visit consists of a guided campus tour and meetings with financial aid and admissions counselors.

ABOUT UP2US COACH ACROSS AMERICA

Coach Across America (CAA) is the first nationwide program to inspire young adults to commit to a year of service as coach-mentors in underserved communities. CAA coaches receive extensive training through Up2Us' Center for Sports-Based Youth Development. More than 500 coaches have provided opportunities for 75,000 youth to be active, learn skills, and stay out of trouble through sports. Learn more at www.up2us.org

Coach Across America is available to all, without regard to race, color, origin, gender, political affiliation, disability, sexual orientation, or religion.

Served no more than one previous AmeriCorps*State/National term; no more than two previous AmeriCorps terms