FENIX FRAMEWORK
By promoting the holistic development of youth through sport, Fenix strives to create resilient, competitive, and multi-dimensional leaders. We want to build a culture of shared resources, knowledge, and influence that leaves an impact bigger than basketball. Sports expose kids to lifelong development opportunities and it’s our role as mentors to prioritize the experience and growth of each athlete, while highlighting transferable skills applicable on and off the court. In addition to becoming more advanced basketball players, we teach our youth how to regulate emotions, be accountable, and work together. Fenix offers a unique youth basketball experience by implementing modern research-based development strategies on an individual and team level.
APPROACH
We differentiate ourselves by focusing on the experience of our athletes rather than game results; our investment in the growth of our athletes translates to competitive teams and winning games is a byproduct of the culture we create.
Research shows 70% of youth athletes quit playing sports before high school mainly to due to the lack of fun. By fostering a mastery-oriented climate rather than task-oriented, our athletes demonstrate a greater perception of their own abilities, increased team satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation to address areas of improvement.
We want our athletes to be engaged throughout high school in multiple sports and activities outside of basketball as this contributes to more well-rounded development. The athletes in our program are the leaders of our future.
TACTICS
INTENTIONAL COMMUNICATION: framing constructive feedback through positive reinforcement and measuring success based on effort and improvement.
SAFE SPACE: where our athletes are encouraged to take risks and make mistakes, and all of our families feel comfortable within the Fenix community.
FUN + COMPETITIVE DRILLS: developmentally appropriate mini-games that isolate specific areas of individual and team skill development.
PLANNED + THEMED PRACTICES: that maximize time in the gym and reinforce development concepts such as composure, accountability, awareness, etc.
COMMUNITY COLLABORATION: integrating best practices from other local community-based organizations to maximize the public benefit we can leverage through youth sports.
PHILOSOPHY
The history of the Fenix (Phoenix) has ancient roots from all throughout the world. The Fenix represents a constant cycle of learning, experimenting, and transforming. As a program, we are constantly learning from community leaders, advisors, and research-based studies. Through our findings, we experiment with innovative and creative ways to make the youth sports experience as enjoyable as possible while promoting growth as a player and a person. Our goal is to transform the youth sports culture and serve as a model youth development organization with a strategy that is replicable on a global level.
THANK YOU
“We’re so grateful for the program contributions and coaching mentorship from both Dr. Julie McCleery and Dr. Polo DeCano of UW’s Center for Leadership in Athletics. Their years of research and experience in psychology and youth development in sports have been huge in developing the best practices for our competitive program, while maintaining a healthy and safe sport culture. We look forward to getting better and better each season to make sure we’re effectively leading our youth to be the resilient leaders of our future.”
