PILR Training is a network of coaches driving social change through sports. Through skill building workshops, resource distribution and facilitated peer-learning, our model promotes a community-driven exchange of new understandings for coaches looking to optimize the impact of athletics. We utilize sports as a vehicle to cultivate safety, cultural competency, and holistic support for under resourced young people.
ABOUT PILR TRAINING
Removing Barriers. Revealing Champions.
Vision: An even playing field where every student-athlete is fully supported.
Mission: To promote healthy coaching practices and reduce barriers impacting under resourced student-athletes through leadership development and community building.
Professionalized learning for coaches is essential to enhance the experiences of everyone participating and involved in youth sports -i.e. coaches, players, parents/guardians, etc.; but coaching education alone cannot fully mitigate the impact of systemic inequity. In addition to the social stressors exacerbated by student-athletes’ marginalized identities, PILR recognizes that systemic issues (such as limited funding and reliable access to safe sporting environments) cause and/or further heighten societal disparities existing within and revealed through youth sports.
We provide a coaching model that recognizes systemic issues impacting under resourced student-athletes, and trains coaches and athletic leaders to identify solutions (both individual and structural) that mitigate harm and cultivate wellness.
FOUNDING DIRECTOR
Beulah Osueke (Coach B)
Coach B has an extensive background in community organizing, international network building, narrative strategy, and organizational development, with particular focus on utilizing a person-centered approach to maximize the genius of marginalized people. A Houston native and Philadelphia resident, Coach B is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University with a Bachelor of Psychology and Sociology and earned her Master of Clinical Psychology from LaSalle University.
From 2013 – 2021, Coach B led the West Catholic Preparatory High School Girls basketball team. In 2020, she became the first Black coach to win Philadelphia’s prestigious Catholic League Basketball Championship and in 2021, became the first Black woman to capture a PIAA state title in Pennsylvania. In total, Coach B led West Catholic’s “Lady Burrs” to 6 city titles, 1 league title, and 1 state championship title, collecting 3 state-wide “Coach of the Year” honors during her 8 year tenure.
In addition to generating historic on-court success, Coach B spearheaded off-court initiatives to deepen the impact of her athletic program and mentorship of her high school players. These efforts included conducting wellness sessions to enhance her student-athletes’ mindfulness and mental health awareness, implementing customized training programs during the off-season and pre-season periods, organizing Summer camps and clinics designed for middle school students, and introducing an annual “Alumni Appreciation Game” to bolster alumni engagement, fundraising activities, and programmatic legacy appreciation.
Through developing PILR, Coach B hopes to elevate the standard of coaching and care within the athletic ecosystem, shifting how athletes and coaches alike define, pursue, and experience “winning.”
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