FAQ
Frequency Asked Question
David Rosenfeld’s (aka “Coach David”) wears many hats. He is a father, husband, coach and business executive. He is a lifelong learner and educator, and in his free time, he enjoys training for triathlons.
David’s coaching journey began during his college years when he was asked to coach a community elementary school basketball team. As a youth sports coach, he recognized the power of team sports as a vehicle not just for athletic prowess but as a training ground for many essential life skills, like communication, consistency, commitment, and teamwork – crucial not just on the court but in the game of life itself. Ever since that moment, he’s remained a dedicated volunteer coach, instilling invaluable life skills in countless young athletes.
Armed with a BA in Communication and an MBA, David embarked on a corporate career, swiftly ascending leadership ranks in multinational corporations, including serving as Vice President and General Manager at WW (formerly Weightwatchers), one of the world’s leading behavior modification companies. His prowess in coaching and leadership flourished as he guided and mentored numerous executives. An unexpected revelation emerged – the very skills he imparted to his basketball protégés were the very skills sought after by his executive mentees.
This realization fueled his vision to extend these life-defining skills to youth beyond the basketball or hockey court. Thus, the Five Star Flite Academy was born.
Our approach differs from traditional educational and coaching models in several ways and for specific reasons
Firstly, we believe teaching these lessons outside the typical teacher/student relationship or parent/child relationship allows these ideas to be more easily digested, accepted, and integrated by the child. A coaching relationship is a naturally encouraging relationship that is focused on growth and performance – the perfect way to transmit these skills.
Secondly, utilizing a small group approach allows students to learn these new skills in a real life, but emotionally safe environment. This allows the children to learn from both the coach and the peers in their groups, and practice skills in a fun and supportive environment.
Each weekly session focuses on one skill, and we apply a 4-point learning model to the skill:
⦁ EXPLAIN the fundaments of each skill, why it is important, and how it shows up in life.
⦁ EXPERIENCE We use group games, challenges, and puzzles to create a fun way for kids to “play” with the new skill. Some of the challenges will leave the kids exhilarated and others will leave them exasperated. The goal is for kids to understand how applying the skill is helpful to them and how ignoring the skill often makes things more challenging.
⦁ ENGAGE After the challenges or puzzles, we engage in guided group discussion, answer questions, and ensure that each student is able use the new skill immediately.
⦁ EXPAND The last element of the 4-point system is that each topic serves as the building block for the next topic, so that at the end of the six-week course, students learn the skills, practice applying them and understand how they relate to each other, and how to use them to power navigate their flite towards success.
While we can’t guarantee specific outcomes, students who embrace and integrate these lessons often report a stronger sense of identity, heightened self-esteem, increased confidence in tackling new challenges, enhanced social connections, and a greater sense of control over their life’s trajectory. These transformative changes contribute to happier, more resilient, and better-prepared young adults.
Sessions will take place at Barkai Yeshivah Elementary School. 5302 21st Street. Brooklyn, NY 11204″.
We are taking applications now on our Upcoming Classes page. Our first groups take flite on Sunday, February 4 and flies until mid-March. Registration for other groups will open shortly.
We use several factors in creating groups. Our first goal is to ensure each boy is in a group with kids his own age or readiness level. Secondly, we aim to accommodate friends that want to be in the same group. And thirdly, we ensure that each group is fun yet productive. The group mix plays an important role in accomplishing that.
Five Star Flite Academy serves as a pioneering catalyst for your child’s success and happiness.
Five Start Flite Academy is redefining the way 6th-8th grade boys absorb and integrate important life skills. We use a fun and interactive approach, and a group model, to build camaraderie so kids learn new skills without fear of failure and while being encouraged by coaches and their peers alike. This approach is designed to simulate the benefits of a sports team, but with focus on life skills instead of basketball skills.
Basic Training is the first program offered at the Academy. This course serves as a guiding compass, assisting participants in navigating crucial aspects of their lives. Basic Training focuses on foundational skills like values, communication, consistency, commitment, and teamwork.
These areas of focus are time-tested and echo components of the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) model, a well-studied framework renowned for enhancing educational performance, fostering positive social behavior, and alleviating social distress. These fundamental elements aren’t new, and the SEL model confirms their vital importance. At Five Star Flite Academy, our coaching approach uniquely helps kids understand, absorb, and practice applying these skills in a fun and supportive environment, making them easily relatable and applicable in their lives.
Values are very important in our program but rather than preach our values to your kids, we believe you should help your kids determine their values. At the Academy, our work with values is to help kids understand what values are, why they are important, how people select values, and how to use our values to shape our actions and decisions. We think this is a great addition to the values you teach them.
We have some guiding principles at the Academy that we teach and model, such as integrity, bravery, teamwork, and positivity.
We are starting with boys in 6th-8th grade, but plan to add groups for girls in the months ahead. And after that, the sky is the limit for us!