Accountability For Life (AFL) mentors at-risk adolescents through a revival of the lost pathway of developing strong, traditional core values that were such a prevalent part of our parents’ and grandparents’ generations. We provide coaches, educators and other community-based partners with a character-building resource toolkit aimed at promoting the importance of accountability in all areas of a student-athlete’s life by teaching and modeling the concept of integrity, and requiring ownership of one’s actions. AFL’s time-tested “old school” approach arms students with the intangible tools they need to succeed in academics, behavioral and life skills, personal growth, benevolence, and leadership—all through the powerful vehicle of sports.
• We believe there is still incredible merit and value in the character-building culture and customs of older generations that esteemed sportsmanship, respect and competition to teach invaluable life lessons.
• We believe there is a conspicuously unmet need—in our York County community and beyond—for an effective means of redirecting adolescents back to the upright path of becoming respectful, humble, hardworking, and civic-minded individuals that believe in themselves and the promising future that is within their reach.
• We believe an authentic and stable mentoring relationship that both inspires the student and imposes well-defined expectations upon him is the most effective method for constructive behavior modification.
• We believe there is an unseen hero army of fellow coaches, passionate educators and would-be volunteers that likewise believe our young people are worth investing in and need only the right tools and resources to step into their calling as mentors to receptive, at-risk adolescents in the sports arena.
• We believe one’s “entitlement” to an education has significantly diluted its perceived value, and that restoring it to “privilige” status that obligates a mutual respect between teacher and student is the key to better outcomes.
AFL’s mentoring program is based on a five-pillar curriculum that encapsulates a student-athlete’s basic AOR, or Areas Of Responsibility: (1) Behavior Life Skills, (2) Academics, (3) Personal Growth, (4) Benevolence, and (5) Leadership Through Sports. The program delivers pillar-specific instruction primarily via individual worktexts, with each pillar subdivided into multiple content modules. Mentors also have access to proprietary AFL resources like PowerPointÒ presentations to facilitate group mentoring sessions and parent-focused workshops that seek to educate and appeal to the highly-influential custodial dynamic inherent in AFL’s mentor model.
The AFL curriculum is designed to serve students in grades 7-12. A student must successfully meet a set of nomination requirements for enrollment, and agree to uphold contractual expectations to remain in the program. Participation in AFL is a privilige, not a right; therefore, expulsion is a remedy for willful or apathetic noncompliance. AFL refers to its student participants as “Recruits,” and to its mentors as “Coaches,” for the express purpose of maintaining a positive, sports-minded backdrop for all teaching and learning exchanges. Our Motto: “Just be a good dude!” (Translation: “Dare to be great in the classroom, in your community, and on the competition field.”)