We are excited to to partner with Chaska/Chanhassen, Osseo/Maple Grove, and Hopkins school districts to put on a total of 12 InSports Days this summer! With the help of Active Solutions and MATTER we will have the opportunity to provide these students with a skills clinic, healthy eating and goal setting session as part of their summer school programs. Our InSports days are unique camps that help expose students to new sports and gives them the basic skills needed to join a team. Following the camp students are given the opportunity to apply for a scholarship to continue their passion in athletics.

This month we started our 5 week program at Jonathan Elementary School with nearly 300 kids in the Chaska/Chanhassen School District. The student have participated in soccer, floor hockey, jump roping and a physical education game for the first two weeks. We look forward to having the students from Osseo and Hopkins join in on the fun!

Interested in joining us for an InSports Day? Learn More

What a day at U.S Bank Stadium! Last Friday we had the opportunity to partner with MATTER and Active Solutions to provide a free on field experience for over 150 kids! Athletes had the chance to put their football skills to the test as they participated in a game of Capture the Football and learned the importance of goal setting and healthy eating with our very own Minnesota Viking Cornerback, Xavier Rhodes!

To date, we have helped over 24,000 kids get in the game through out InSports Days, Scholarships, and Team Sponsorships!

Interested in joining us for a future InSports Day? Learn More

This year InSports was honored to donate $1,000 to Gear Up Minnesota, a MN program which grants hockey associations with starter hockey equipment. To date the program has helped provide over 120 associations with equipment - worth over $520,000! A grant was recently given to Coon Rapids this year and they were able to provide 15 athletes with all the equipment needed to be introduced to the game of hockey!

• Learn more about the program!

On Tuesday, May 30th, The Eastview Community Foundation held their annual scholarship award ceremony for the 2017 high school graduates. This year, The InSports Foundation was honored to present a $500 scholarship to two young athletes who show outstanding character on and off the ice. This year’s recipients are well deserving of the honor.

​One recipient is Tyler Kukowski. His passion has been hockey since he first picked up at stick at the age of 4. The Eastview senior recounted his experiences while playing and some of the ways his experiences impacted him over the years, “I have learned so many life lessons along the way, including how to be a good teammate, leader, how to be humble when you win and to lose gracefully just to name a few.” These lessons eventually led Kukowski to being named his team’s captain in his final year and helped motivate him to give back to the youth programs that he grew up participating in. “It is very important to me to carry on the strong tradition of giving back to the Eastview youth hockey programs and community, as I know I can be a strong role model and have a positive influence on other kids lives.”

The other recipient is Alissa Tuccitto. She has been playing hockey since she was able to fit into a pair of skates, and she has taken every opportunity to become a better version of herself on and off the ice. “I have learned what it means to sacrifice to reach a goal, as well as how to persevere through challenges”. Tuccitto said that her freshmen season was anything but easy and she realized how hard she would have to work to achieve success. Tuccitto has a good lesson for any younger athletes out there, “I learned from my coaches that you will be rewarded for what you put in and also what you give up, it may not be right away but you will always know that you followed your morals to get to where you are and that you got there because of all that you did to stay on track.” Hard work does not go unnoticed as Tuccitto was awarded not only captain’s honors her senior year, but also the Hobey Baker Award for character.

We would like to thank Tyler and Alissa for their dedication to sports and kids in there community and are honored to present them with the InSports Foundation Athletic Scholarships for 2017. We wish them luck in the future and hope they keep up the hard work!

Energy filled the Baseline Tennis Center as the InSports team kicked off the first Gopher Tennis InSports Day! Our InSports team, in partnership with USTA Northern welcomed over 50 individuals ages 8-13 for a day full of tennis followed by a Women’s Gophers vs. Badgers tennis match. 

The kids had the opportunity to participate in a series of rallies while working on their serving and tennis stroke skills. The stations included games like instant rally progression, circle volley, tennis four square, throw ball, and tic tac toe relays. 

Another fantastic component of our InSports Days is the Goal Setting Session where kids have the opportunity to write down and share their own personal goals for the day, their goal in sports, and their goal with teammates! Karyna Bihel, a Freshman Gopher Tennis player, was able to join us and share her career, school, short term and long term goals with the group as well.

The day wrapped up with our Healthy Eating Session thanks to our partners over at MATTER! They provide healthy MATTERboxes for our InSports Days. Since the summer of 2016, Matter has helped us provide over 700 kids with a healthy MATTERbox! How cool is that?​

After the InSports Day, the kids and their parents/guardians were invited to stay and watch the Gopher vs. Badgers Tennis Match. The kids also had the opportunity to meet the U of M tennis players and stand beside them as the players were announced for the match! 

We would like to thank Youthprise, USTA Northern, Baseline Tennis Center staff, MATTER, the Minnesota Gopher Women's Tennis Team and all of our volunteers for making our first Gopher a great success! We look forward to partnering in the future to provide more free opportunities for the kids in the community. 

To check out more pictures from the event, head to our Facebook Page!

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Source : 2016 WDAY Feature 

The InSports Foundation will be participating in Giving Hearts Day on February 9th 2017 in honor of Zach Kraft, a passionate hockey player from Fargo who lost his battle to cancer at the young age of 22. The funds raised during this day are used to grant youth hockey players from Fargo, Moorhead, and Grand Forks with the Zach Kraft Scholarship which helps waive the fees of their hockey expenses. Help us keep Kraft’s legacy alive and kids in the game by donating on February 9th!

Kraft Legacy
Growing up in Grand Forks, naturally Zach began playing hockey as a kid and instantly became passionate about the sport. When he moved to Fargo his sophomore year of high school, he continued playing hockey, resulting in scoring the game winning goal in the 2012 North Dakota state championship game – which he always dreamed about! Kraft went on to play on various teams in the Midwest, including appearances on the Fargo Force, Aberdeen Wings, and Wisconsin Wilderness.

Kraft Scholarship
The Zach Kraft scholarship was inspired by Zach’s dedication to the game of hockey and his ability to encourage others to give their best on and off the ice. Through this scholarship we will inspire kids at a young age to work hard, set goals, and never stop believing in themselves. Last year we were honored to grant 6 families who were going through hardships the opportunity to allow their player to continue to stay in the game. Join our mission on Giving  Hearts Day!

We are excited to announce our participation in Give to the Max Day for the second year! ​“Give To The Max Day” is one of the first 24 hour events aimed to inspire and encourage charitable donations. Created by GiveMN in 2009, Give To The Max Day has experienced increasing donations with each consecutive year. In 2015 Minnesota raised a record breaking 18 million dollars for schools and nonprofit organizations.

There are over 62,000 donors and 5,500 organizations that participate in the event, but the numbers keep growing. This year, InSports Foundation will be participating for our second year. We are tremendously excited to fundraise on this special day. As a nonprofit organization, we want to get the word out for this great Minnesota get together. You can support InSports Foundation and Give to the Max Day by donating on this day. There is also an option to become an ongoing donor and continue to support our organization.

Thanks to donors like YOU, we are able to use the money raised on this day toward funding free InSports Days that are offered to hundreds of kids in the community. Through these camps we hope to give these athletes the opportunity to become passionate in sports and learn life-long skills that they will be able to use in their futures.
 
Check out our Give to the Max Page HERE !

​The InSports team kicked off Halloween weekend by hosting the 2nd Annual United FC InSports Day on October, 29th for over 60 kids in the community.  InSports Days have a specific purpose of providing unforgettable sporting opportunities to help kids find their passion, live healthy lifestyles and learn the importance of setting goals.

The United FC InSports Day included the following elements: a goal setting session, soccer skills clinic and a healthy eating presentation.
 
Goal Setting Session
Our Goal Setting Session was led by UFC Goalkeeper, Steward Ceus. He highlighted the importance of setting goals and expressed how goals have allowed him to achieve success both as a professional soccer player and an academic student.

The kids then engaged in an exercise of setting goals for themselves. Each kids wrote a goal for today's InSports Day, a goal with their teammates and a goal in sports and then shared them with the group.

Soccer Skills Clinic
Craig Mallace, a former professional player for the Minnesota Thunder lead the camp, the athletes were split into 4 groups and each station focused on specific skills including speed, teamwork, and dribbling.

Healthy Eating Session
After the camp, the MATTER team, a non-profit in Minnesota who offers healthy snacks for kids, came and presented the importance of a balanced diet. Each athlete walked away with box full of healthy snacks to take home!

United FC Game
Following the camp, each participant had the opportunity to attend the United FC match vs. the NY Cosmos. The InSports team kept an eye out for athletes who showed sportsmanship, teamwork, and commitment, two where awarded with having the opportunity to be part of the ball delivering ceremony. The day was not over for the camp-goers yet, they were all invited to be part of the parade of champions that took place during half-time. 

We are excited to have such great partnerships with organizations in the community. This day would not be possible without the United FC Organization, MATTER, and our awesome volunteers. We look forward to hosting more free opportunities for our community, join us in our mission!

Check out pictures on our Facebook page HERE!