OUR STORY
Unit 1 Athletics was founded in the summer of 2024 by Chris Cook, a former public school teacher, coach, principal, and parent to three children in the Brookline school district and Robert Kwak, a lacrosse coach at Brookline High School, operations executive, and Brookline parent.
As two fathers who experienced firsthand the challenges of coaching sports in the town, from long drives to far away practices, to BHS coaches who were eager to participate but were not well integrated into the town programs, to watching lots of practices where little meaningful skill development was happening, we knew there was a better way. Unit 1 Athletics was founded to address these issues. We partnered with local organizations to run programs in town, hired high quality coaches from the Brookline school district and beyond, and created a high-repetition, foundational skill-focused training model based on our own coaching experience.
OUR MISSION
The mission of Unit 1 Athletics is to enhance the overall athletic experience for youth athletes throughout Brookline and beyond by fostering a greater sense of community and commitment to teams throughout the town. Our goal is to build better athletes to be better teammates. By elevating athletic skills and fostering community we intend to support a collaborative and high-achieving local athletic environment.
OUR CORE VALUES
Professionalism. We know the sports we coach, strive to get better at our craft, and consistently approach our work with conscientiousness and respect for our peers, players and partners and ask the same of them.
Community-Oriented. We strive to make positive connections with people across our community and believe that when we bring members together to support youth athletes it is a win for everyone.
Intentional Effort. There are no shortcuts or hacks here. Real, significant achievements of any consequence come from setting goals, focusing on the details, and developing the self-discipline to work through the distractions and setbacks to reach the desired results.
Positivity. We bring a sense of joy to our work because having the opportunity to help young people to gain skills and confidence is a gift.
WHY UNIT 1?
We chose the name Unit 1 Athletics because by definition a unit is both a complete entity and a component of a larger or more complex whole. Put another way, being a unit is simultaneously about individual achievement and working in service of something bigger than ourselves.
The three helmets in our logo are a nod to the Brookline High School ‘Warrior’ mascot and our deep roots in the community.
