Opportunity Academy student-athletes and a mentor smiling together around a table during an OA program session

Our Approach

Athletics Is the Entry Point. Leadership Is the Destination.

Every OA experience is built around five pillars that work together year-round: not five separate classes, one connected system. OA serves boys and girls ages 12 to 18, from 8th grade through their freshman year of college.

The Five Pillars

  • Financial Literacy icon

    Financial Literacy

    Budgeting, saving, credit, and real-world money skills for life after high school, taught through a weekly curriculum and a Junior Achievement trip.

  • Athletics-Based Mentorship icon

    Athletics-Based Mentorship

    Discipline, confidence, and leadership built through year-round training, team competition, and coaches who mentor on and off the field.

  • Career Readiness icon

    Career Readiness

    Real exposure to mentors and employers, with resume building, mock interviews, career panels, and job shadowing.

  • Social-Emotional Learning icon

    Social-Emotional Learning

    Confidence, resilience, and healthy relationships, built through group sessions, SEL office hours, and a team that has each other’s backs. To protect our students’ privacy, these sessions are never photographed.

  • Service icon

    Service

    Leadership through community action, from hands-on service projects to giving back across San Diego.

Ready to be part of OA?

See enrollment options for student-athletes ages 12 to 18, including financial assistance.

Join OA

Our 2026–27 season

A Year of Programming

Opportunity Academy is not a once-a-week drop-in. Our programming runs year-round, and our first cohort of 14 student-athletes (9 of them on full or partial financial assistance) shows up together for training, workshops, service, and mentorship, week after week.

230+hours of programming offered
157scheduled sessions
12months a year: OA runs year-round
5pillars woven through every month
Athletics-Based MentorshipTraining + mentorship, Monday evenings and Saturday mornings
126.5 hrs
Social-Emotional LearningVirtual group sessions and SEL office hours
44.25 hrs
Career ReadinessProfessional skills, resumes, mock interviews, panels and job shadowing
25.75 hrs
Financial LiteracyWeekly curriculum plus a Junior Achievement trip
24.25 hrs
ServiceCommunity service and civic engagement projects
6 hrs
Plus: Cohort OutingsSocial time together that builds belonging
4 hrs

Hours are the program time offered to each student across the season, including 19 optional hours of workouts and SEL office hours. They are not multiplied by the number of students.

Always OA · Our Alumni Program

We stay in their corner, into college.

When our seniors graduate, the support keeps going. Every OA graduate receives two Home Team Boxes in their first semester of college, packed by our current athletes with handwritten letters of encouragement. The Class of 2027 is up first.

Explore Always OAFund a Home Team Box

Help us keep showing up.

Every hour on this page is made possible by donors, volunteers, and partners who believe in our student-athletes.

DonateGet InvolvedMeet Our Seniors
Our 2026–27 cohort is full. Families interested in next season can reach us at info@opportunityacademysd.org.