After graduating from the University of Chicago, I joined Teach for America. With only five weeks of training, I was sent to Hawai’i to teach eighth grade mathematics at the lowest performing school in the lowest performing state in the nation.

My students were the victims of a devastating crystal methamphetamine epidemic, broken tent communities, and harrowing domestic abuse. Every day we struggled to manage the constant fighting, endless disrespect, and general apathy of our students. After only a few months, I resigned. Through my struggle, I witnessed the insidious and institutional nature of educational inequity and learned that closing the achievement gap requires more than excellent teachers.

In Fall 2007, I returned to Chicago. I recognized that often teachers are asked to teach, motivate, and guide hundreds of students without the support of parents, friends, coaches, or even administrators. I soon dreamed of building a national corps of athletic coaches that could provide students with the motivation, guidance, and support necessary to succeed. In the spring, I launched National Coaching Fellows. In the spring I was joined by my friend and business partner Daniel, a former AmeriCorps VISTA and Chicago Teaching Fellow. Since then, we have recruited and trained a pilot corps of 16 undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University who are now serving nearly 300 students-athletes across Chicago. In the coming years, we are committed to expanding to New York, Hawai’i, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.

- Philip Kovoor, Founder and Executive Director