Program Pen-Pals

I think that if you have a close relationship with a college coach and was within reasonable proximity, taking your players to the college for a mentor/mentee experience amongst players of both teams would be a benefit to both groups of young men.

Also, as a high school coach, turn that around and create mentoring opportunities for *your players* in the community. I was thinking about this a while back watching the Tennessee/Indy game during a speaking trip in Toronto, Canada. I'm not sure if the commercial broadcasts were the same in the States, but they featured a high school football team in Florida that instituted a "pen-pal" program between it's players and players in the local youth football league.

Every week they would exchange letters about a bunch of topics. That is not only a great mentoring opportunity, community service, a chance to play "big-brother", and a big thrill for the younger kids, but also a great chance to build some continuity in the area and develop young kids that look forward to being in your program like their pen-pal.