“Winners Building Winners!”

“Many People Mistakenly Think That Sports Is Solely About Winning Games. But We Believe It’s More Than That, It’s Also About”

Building tenacity, inner strength, and the “bounce back ability” to handle life’s future challenges and temporary setbacks… and one of the best ways to learn these character traits is in organized sports.

Our “Winners Building Winners” sporting and recreational activities activities provide a place of encouragement, security, skills attainment, and most of all… fun!

For many young people in San Diego who are facing challenging home environments or social gang pressure… Connecting Hope’s Sports activities are some of the few safe havens and positive places they have.

Our experienced mentors and professional level trainershelp mold them and instill character traits and skills such as… Self-confidence, goal achievement, planning, and self-discipline.

These intangible gifts (Selfconfidence, planning/goal achievement, and self-discipline) will benefit our youth on and off the playing field. These valuable life skills will assist them in every aspect of their future lives.

One of Connecting Hope’s primary goals is to create healthier and stronger communities by offering safe and accessible residential play areas for community members to be active, to learn, and for neighbors to come together.

We create safe spaces to share values that promote physical activity, healthy snack/food options, mental wellness, and foster social cohesion.

Our most popular activities occur during days and evenings when we have team practices and actual games.

During these times our mentors create a positive space for families and networks to gather and be together – enjoying sports, games, art projects, food, music, and learning about additional support services in a casual and relaxed environment.

We are engaged in a wide variety of sports

(Soccer, Baseball, Volleyball, Basketball, and Football)

One of our most impactful endeavors has been our football program.

Many Of Our Football Participants Have Gone on To Be Accepted At Colleges Throughout The Nation… And Into Professional Sports Leagues.

Below is a brief snapshot of the competencies our programs help develope.

• Speed and Conditioning
• Flexibility
• Mental Toughness
• Skill Position Development
• Nutrition
• Academics
• Self-Discipline
• Follow Through

“Winners Building Winners”

Director Akili Smith was a star collegiate Quarterback at the University of Oregon and a top NFL draft pick for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Akili directs an energetic staff that possesses years of expertise in athletics, sports science, and motivation they’ve obtained by working many years in the professional ranks.

Below are just a few of the QBs who Akili and/or his staff have trained, mentored, or worked with…

• Ryan Glover (Cal/Memphis)
• Robby Ashford (Mentorship, Auburn University)
• Jadon Green (Morgan State)
• Tobey Schmidt (Wagner)
• Clash (Lewis and Clark)
• Jaylen Daniel (South Carolina)
• DJ Ralph (San Diego State University)
• Jake Nuefeld (TCU)
• Nick Billoups (BYU, Brigham Young University)
• Owen Easley (SMU)
• Joe Joe Hudson (UT Martin)
• Luis Perez (L.A. Rams free agent)
• Anthony Brown (Baltimore Ravens)
• Lucas Johnson (Montana)

• Braxton Burmeister (San Diego State University)
• Jack Sears (USC/Boise State/ Pro)
• Tyler Jensen (Cal)
• Gabe King (Louisville)
• Trevor Appleman (USD)
• Rodney Thompson (Northern Illinois)
• Chance Nolan (Oregon State)
• Micah Bowens (Oklahoma State)
• Tyler Lytle (8th Grade, Colorado, University of Massachusetts)
• Chris Jones (Seton Hall)
• Jeff Jackson (Valpariso)
• Jalil Tucker (Oregon)
• Jalil Florence (Oregon)

Brief Highlights of their accomplishment.

• Top 3 passers in San Diego history (Burmeister, Lawrence, Jackson)
• 4 Silver Pig Skin finalist (Brandon, Braxton, Lucas, and Daniels)
• 6 CIF appearances (Winning 3)