For nearly five years, a group of highly dedicated and trained individuals have served as coaches for the participants in the Sports Plus basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, gym, track & field, martial arts, fitnes and swimming programs. The goal of the coaching staff is to work as a team to provide the best sports and social experience possible for all participants-all while having a lot of fun! Our staff constantly works to engage and instruct the children by alternatively offering help, challenge or even slapstick humor depending upon the needs of the particular participant. They teach sports and athletic skills while also emphasizing the valuable social skills of teamwork, sportsmanship and peer to peer communication. As a result our coaches help to not only increase fitness and athletic skills but also help to build self esteem, confidence and social skills through sports, play and fun that have lasting benefits far beyond athletic fields, gyms and pools. Our coaching staff brings a great deal of experience and talent from a wide variety of different disciplines that blends together to effectively carry out our class curriculum week after week. We thought you might like to see a summary of some of the collective experience and credentials of our Sports Plus coaching staff. 

• Five are NSCA Certified Personal Trainers
• Three are former college softball players
• One is a former college basketball player, two are former college lacrosse players, three are current college lacrosse players, four are former college swimmers, five are former college soccer players, four are current college soccer players and two have played soccer professionally
• Six are special education teachers, four are elementary school teachers, one is secondary school teacher and three are special education instructional assistants for classes of children with autistic spectrum disorders
• Three have finished marathons and seven regularly compete in area road races
• Twenty have carried out ABA or other therapies for autistic children on a one to one basis
• Five have been awarded Masters Degrees from George Washington University-two in Exercise Science and Nutrition and three in Public Health
• Four have been awarded Masters Degrees in Education from Johns Hopkins University, Marymount University and American University respectively
• Four have been awarded Masters Degrees in Special Education 
• One is a certified speech-language pathologist with a Masters Degree in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology, one is a physical therapist and one is a social worker 
• Seven have autistic children in their families
• One is a high school softball coach in Virginia and one is a former high school volleyball coach with two years of Junior Olympic volleyball experience
• One is a children’s party entertainer extraordinaire that has lead hundreds of parties and another has helped lead dozens of children’s parties
• Fourteen have extensive coaching experience in neurotypical sports programs for children
• Six have earned Water Safety Instructor certifications and nineteen have earned lifeguard certifications
• Nine have served as swim coaches for neurotypical swim teams 
• Two are certified yoga instructors and one is a certified BOSU training specialist
• Three hold black belts in tae kwon do
• One is a certified Tai Chi instructor