This study evaluates Meet Me on the Pitch (MMotP), a community-based intervention that integrates sports, schools, and behavioral health with the goal of improving the behavioral health, well-being and academic performance of youth. MMotP is a novel approach that builds on evidence-based practices by using sports as a means to foster social-emotional development and address barriers to academic, health, and social services. The study assesses feasibility, acceptability, and short-term outcomes through a randomized controlled trial comparing MMotP to standard sports programming. The intervention will be implemented by the non-profit organization Soccer Without Borders and evaluated by the University of California, San Francisco.

Meet Me on the Pitch (MMotP) is an innovative community-based intervention designed to improve the behavioral health, well-being and academic performance of youth (ages 14-21). The six-session intervention combines soccer-based activities with behavioral health education using the DNA-V model, a youth-focused adaptation of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). By training trusted community members, specifically soccer coaches, to deliver a tailored behavioral health intervention, MMotP addresses barriers to academic, health, and social services while fostering social-emotional development.

This study evaluates MMotP through a parallel randomized controlled trial. Youth participants will be randomized within their soccer teams to either the supplemental MMotP intervention or just standard sports programming. The study will assess changes in primary outcomes, including mental health (psychological flexibility and self-efficacy) and academic support-seeking behaviors, as well as secondary outcomes related to social connection, school engagement, and access to services. Youth will complete surveys at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months to measure these outcomes.

MMotP will be implemented by Soccer Without Borders in the San Francisco Bay Area and Colorado and evaluated by the University of California, San Francisco. This study is funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Youth ages 14-21 participating in Soccer Without Borders programming
• Regular attendance at team soccer practice
• Ability to speak English or Spanish

Exclusion Criteria:

• Youth who do not participate in Soccer Without Borders activities
• Youth who do not attend soccer practice regularly
• Youth who do not speak English or Spanish
• Youth who have already received the MMotP program

De-identified individual participant survey data will be made available for secondary analyses. Given the study's focus on a particularly vulnerable population (i.e., minors), we limit data sharing to scientists approved by the UCSF research team and Institutional Review Board. Because of the nature of the data and potential risks to research participants, our datasets will not be placed in a data repository. Data will be shared in compliance with UCSF IRB-approved protocols and NIH data-sharing requirements.

Data will be available on or before December 2029.

Sharing access criteria are under development.

The youth participants and coaches enrolling participants will not know of study assignment until after completing recruitment, consent and the baseline survey. At that point, the UCSF study team will use a random number generator to assign each participant to the intervention or control condition. The researcher conducting the outcomes analysis will not know the group assignment.