Teen Leadership Corps
Teens become the Federation's coaching bench — and earn one of the highest honors America gives its young people while they do it.
What it is
Corps members train as assistant coaches, then help run the real thing: Saturday classes, Keystone Games days at the academies, and the fall Festival. They work in scheduled, supervised shifts, move up through ranks — Junior Assistant, Assistant Coach, Team Captain — and every hour of service is logged.
The Congressional Award
Those logged hours climb a national ladder: The Congressional Award, established by the United States Congress in 1979 as its honor for young Americans. It is earned individually, at the member's own pace, across four areas — voluntary public service, personal development, physical fitness, and expedition. Corps service maps onto the first three — the expedition is an adventure each member plans on their own. Members aged 13½ to 23 can register; awards begin with Bronze, Silver and Gold Certificates and climb to Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals, earned over months and years of documented effort. Bronze and Silver arrive with a letter from the member's own Member of Congress.
- Bronze Certificate
- Silver Certificate
- Gold Certificate
- Bronze Medal
- Silver Medal
- Gold Medal
The honest math
A teen coaching about four hours each Saturday logs roughly 200 service hours a year. The Gold Medal's service requirement — 400 hours over at least 24 months — is genuinely reachable in two committed years, with Games days and the Festival adding hours on top. This is a long ladder, climbed for real.
What it can mean for college
Most kids will never play a college sport — and this was never about that. The Congressional Award is a national credential admissions readers recognize: years of documented service, discipline, and follow-through, recognized by a national award program rather than claimed in an essay. It tells the story colleges say they want — well-rounded, healthy, a leader. And the teen who is an athlete and holds it? That's a team captain.
Safety
Non-negotiable: adults with completed background checks are present at every shift, and corps members never work alone with children.
Being finalized now
The corps is forming now. Interested families: (626) 613-3688.
Or tell us about your teen on the free-classes form.