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Jason Lupo (Colorado Politician and Business Owner)
Jason Grant Lupo is a candidate for Colorado House District 20. , local entrepreneur and owner of Full Armour Swim & Sports Teams, radio show host of Faith, Family Fitness and educator at Great American Outpost. Jason is an experienced coach specializing in youth, adaptive and elite athletes. Jason has directed and coached teams and athletes in International, National and State competitions in the sport of cycling and swimming. His expertise and passion for youth and sport has provided him the opportunity to travel across the country, coaching athletes and giving seminars and workshops. His passion for coaching athletes expands into the business world as he enjoys working with individuals and businesses as they work to set up their finances for the future and start, grow or expand their businesses. He strongly believes that life is about sharing your passions and knowledge with others to help them grow and thrive in all aspects of their lives.

Education
Jason Lupo graduated with a double major, earning the degrees of Bachelors in Business, Sports Management and Bachelors in Health Science, Sports Conditioning from University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in 2015.

After becoming heavily involved with youth in the community and choosing to pursue a career in youth sports, Jason Lupo decided to further his education by earning a Masters Degree in Youth Development Leadership from Clemson University. Earning a Graduate Student Award for his excellence in research.

House District 20 Campaign
Jason Lupo made his public announcement on 1/20/24 on his own radio show Faith Family Fitness episode 37 and subsequently with a video published on Rumble and shared across social media platforms.

Rather than petitioning onto the ballot, Jason Lupo appeared before the El Paso County GOP Assembly on March 23rd, 2024 earning 79% of the vote and becoming the sole addition to the State's Primary Election from assembly. His victory earned his the top line on the ballot for the June 25th, 2024 primary election.

The seat currently held by Don Wilson, will be a vacant seat due to his campaign to serve as an El Paso County Commissioner. The only other challenger on the ballot is Jarvis Caldwell who will join the ballot through petition.

Parental Rights
"For far too long, government entities have believed that they know better than parents when it comes to healthcare and education decisions affecting our youth in Colorado.

Colorado law currently does not require consent of a child's parent to receive an abortion. Minors may receive the HPV, Hepatitis A and B vaccine without their parents permission and may receive treatment for sexually transmitted infections without even a parental notice.

State funds are being used to inform students of this information at the cost to the taxpayer. Schools are choosing to assess student mental health, with only a notification to opt-out. Passive parental consent, which requires parents to opt-out rather than opt-in, is an invasive and intrusive phishing expedition, in which entities are gathering extremely confidential and private information about Colorado families. These school survey may even ask about family gun ownership and students sexual orientation.

If elected I will fight to end any law that allows for passive parental consent and require informed consent when it comes to research, medical decisions and treatment."

Medical Freedom
"Colorado is quickly becoming a state that demands its citizens comply with the state's decisions when it comes to you and your families health.

Current legislators have made little to no fight in ensuring parents and everyday citizens are protected based on their medical decisions. Bills seeking to ensure that the COVID vaccine could not be given to minors without parental consent, and protections for Colorado's workforce against discrimination based on COVID vaccine status failed to make it out of committee. Which opens the door for employers to continue to request confidential medical information.

Parents are losing their rights to make medical decisions for their kids, with the threat of having their children forcibly taken from the family unit in the name of "child welfare" for not bending to the will of the government.

If elected, I will fight to keep Colorado families' medical information private, end discrimination based on health choice and protect a families right to choose whether or not to provide preventative and potentially harmful vaccines to their children."

Small Business
"As the owner of a small business, Full Armour Swim & Sports Teams that employs over 50 individuals annually, I understand the implications of the laws that are being passed requiring a higher minimum wage, family medical leave act and increased cost of unemployment insurance.

The rising tax burden is causing businesses to shutter and making room for the local economies to be negatively impacted by giving more privileges and advantages to large conglomerates and multi-national corporations.

The implications are astronomical as many times profits and dollars leave the small rural economies rather than leading to prosperous communities.

The rights of small business owners to stay true to themselves and their faith in the State of Colorado has been fought over and over and multiple cases have made their way to the Supreme Court.

Christian owned businesses like mine are under attack for their beliefs and unwillingness to bend to the radical woke agenda."

Education
"There is a lack of fiduciary responsibility in our education system. The state government has consistently asked for an increase in spending in our education system, but no one has batted an eye about how the money that is currently in the system is spent.

Homeschool families although on the rise are constantly under attack even though research has shown that across the country, homeschoolers consistently test higher than students in public school settings. The reasons school districts are pushing to end homeschooling is simple, it reduces the funds they have at their disposal.​

Our education system is also flawed and not tailored to the needs of the students they serve. High Schoolers who are expected to sit in class all day do not even receive the same amount of break periods required by employment laws that ensure workers receive breaks.

School curriculum is entrenched with political, social narrative designed to reshape traditional family values rather than teach the skills required for youth to succeed and think critically.

The traditional model of education is failing our students. If elected I promise to ask the tough questions and evaluate the states current lack of fiduciary responsibility."

2nd Amendment Rights
"I believe in Constitutional carry and the rights of citizens to protect human life and property. Adults over the age of 18 should be unhindered in the purchasing of a firearm for their own recreational and protection purposes. Waiting periods and red flag laws create dangerous situations and put unnecessary barriers to one’s constitutional right to protect themselves and grants local authorities unconstitutional power to remove weapons of lawful citizens. The government has no role in the private everyday lives of citizens and has no reason or power to create registries and tracking systems of gun owners."

Pro Life
"Life begins at conception and should be protected.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade was not the end of the battle, it was the beginning. It did not do anything to change the ability to receive an abortion in the State of Colorado.

Colorado's current law allows for abortion up to the date of birth. Allowing for a fully developed child to be murdered.

Moreover, in the State of Colorado, a minor can receive an abortion without the consent, only notification, of the parents."

Cut Taxes
"When Americans get to keep more of their hard earned money, local communities benefit and the economy flourishes because money is cycled amongst the community for exchange of goods and services.

When money is pulled away from citizens to centralized government controlled spending, that money is effectively pulled out of local economies.

I will vote no on efforts to raise taxes or on bills that will require additional taxation.

I believe that a law should be passed outlawing statements that wrongly influence voters to vote to keep taxes that are sunsetting."

Professional Experience
Jason Lupo currently serves as the Head Coach of Full Armour Swim Team and a Educator at Great American Outpost.

He has had 16 years of coaching experience serving as the Head Coach of the Navy's Wounded Warrior Program Swim Team from 2013-2020, the Head Coach of Out of the Box Performance/ International Dyslexia Association Cycling Team, the Head Coach and Program Director of UCCS Cycling Team , Head Coach at Coronado High School Swim Team , Head Coach and Program Director at the YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region and Assistant Coach at Pine Creek High School.

In addition to Coaching, Jason Lupo served as CEO of Endeavor Consulting, Events and Coaching Education at USA Weightlifting, Aquatics Director at YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region, Adjunct Professor at IMBC and Substitute Teacher in various School Districts in Colorado Springs.

Jason Lupo has also served as a campaign manager for Lindsay Moore during her races for Academy District 20 School Board and County Commissioner.

== Professional Philosophy == Since 2016, Jason Lupo has aimed to solve some of the most troubling issues surrounding youth sports through his business Full Armour Sports Teams.

While so many issues presented in the youth sports field have attempted to be solved by simple surface solutions, the real problems troubling many of our youth in today’s culture are not merely solved with a primary goal of improving performance. To get to the heart of empowering positive youth development requires that performance become an outcome not of training philosophy, but rather an outcome of an intense desire in our youth to succeed fostered not by a coach, but by the environment that we as coaches provide scaffold.

Every program that Jason Lupo has launched has focused on providing year-round opportunities for kids to participate, and he makes sure the participation does not end when a child walks off the field. Team activities, retreats and volunteer opportunities are critical for the success of our programs. Zarrett et al. (2005), found that youth only benefit from a positive youth development perspective if sport participation is intense and lasts longer than a year. Jason has found the same results as Zarrett and thus offer programs year-round and training opportunities as many as 6 days a week in most sports.

Creating a faith based, kingdom-focused youth sports program required that Jason reframe his philosophy since his early days of coaching. Full Armour Swim & Sports Teams compete and train with the knowledge that our athletes are competing for God’s glory. They strive to teach our athletes that sport is a platform, the way that we conduct ourselves on and off the field and in and out of the pool is a reflection of who we are and whom we serve. As an organization, their primary goal is to impact as many youth as possible in the communities we serve. To Jason, “impact” means providing an opportunity for every kid to find personal success and in turn to become more self-confident, able to overcome adversity, and learn what it means to be an integral part of a team, not just through athletic contribution, but through their presence.

The execution of such programming only occurs through a Three-pronged approach of core principles that include: (1) culture setting, (2) individualization and (3) removing barriers to entry.

Culture
Full Armour's culture is the cornerstone of everything they do, it is what attracts families to their program and it is what helps them retain youth in their programs for as long as they do. They strongly believe that culture is to leaders like training is to athletes; it is the result of what they work to achieve. A strong culture is trained and built, not merely the happenstance of what happens when we put 50 people in a room. Their culture is molded by the buy-in of their athletes to a code in which they conduct ourselves, purposeful team building and modeling by their staff and volunteers.

The culture they have, moves away from the modern day me-centric culture of the sporting world, in which athletes shift teams yearly searching for the best opportunities to get noticed by scouts to a culture in which athletes are committed to one another, growing together sharing in the rollercoaster of emotions from success to failure and working through such pivotal times in each other’s lives. In their culture, coaches and staff model the behavior we wish to see in our athletes, they have fun, love the youth they serve and encourage those around them. Through servant leadership they show their youth what it means to serve others, just as their ultimate coach, their Lord and Savior has done for them. Full Armour's coaches model the attitudes and behaviors they wish to see and push athletes to follow them into commitment, dedication, desire, discipline and excellence (Russell & Stone, 2002).

Individualization
While Full Armour focuses on developing a strong culture, Jason also understands that each part makes up the whole. Too often in the sports world coaches evaluate future performance potential based on what is showcased today. Full Armour Sports Teams understands that each child is in different stages of psychological and physiological development that cannot necessarily be predicted by chronological age (Balyi & Way, 2001). It is not uncommon to value youth who are more physically developed because of their present athletic ability rather than a kid who is behind developmentally, or who may be referred to as a “late bloomer.” This may lead to an approach where the focus is on the greatest talent at a particular age which often takes the form of an “early bloomer” or “average developer.” This approach may be great for achieving a single season result, but does little for athlete or youth development. Moreover, future athletic success cannot be predicted at a young age and as “late bloomer” catch up, they have the potential to be just as successful if not more that those “early bloomer” (Simonton, 2001)

As an organization, they strive to provide high quality coaching to all youth, regardless of their perceived talent at a singular point in their life. Through individualized coaching and meeting youth at their current level of sports competence, Full Armour can allow all athletes to achieve personal excellence. This shift in methodology has allowed them to create a feeder system within our programs and bridge the gap between recreation programs that offer inconsistent coaching and minimal athlete development and club sports programs which often look for athletes who already have elite-level talent.

Barriers to Entry
Lastly, one of the largest problems facing the world of youth sports is the increasing barriers to entry. Elite club programs are costly, with some sports and programs costing $5000 and up to participate per season. This high cost leaves potential great athletes from lower socioeconomic areas unable to participate. Moreover as previously discussed, many programs are looking for athletes who already have the aptitude to play or compete, and do not provide developmental programs to create self-efficacy and game awareness and physical development, which leaves a large portion of youth underserved.

Full Armour Sports Teams is dedicated to removing these barriers by making sure that athletes are never turned away due to financial difficulties or lack of athleticism. By creating programs that traverse the spectrum from introductory knowledge to elite, high-performance teams, we  develop any athlete and move them up our performance pipeline.

Professional Philosophy Conclusion
Jason Lupo strongly believe that if he focuses on these three core principles that great athletic achievement will be born out of our hard work, intentionally programming focus, and a desire to change the way that youth sports programs are run. He believes that athletic achievement results when youth are engaged, when they work towards a common goal with one another and through service, not obtained as a result of strictly what he provides in training. Jason believes if he creates a place youth want to be, they will train harder than anyone else. At the end of the day, performance times and achievements will fade, trophies will collect dust, but the lessons their youth have learned, their resilience and the bonds they have created with their teammates, will outlast their name on a scoreboard.

Journalism
Jason Lupo has voiced his concerns and beliefs continuously on issues affecting the community and sport. Below are a few of his articles:

=== Taking gambling to a new level === Published Colorado Springs Gazette Jun 15, 2021

=== Small Businesses are the Backbone === Published Colorado Springs Gazette Dec 20, 2021

=== Bashing and labeling on Facebook === Published Colorado Springs Gazette Nov 15, 2021

=== It’s about government overreach === Published Colorado Springs Gazette Jun 14, 2020

The Scientific Method- An Effective and Under-valued Coaching Tool
Published by Front Office Sports

=== We Coach People === Published by Front Office Sports

=== Play it as it Lies === Published by Front Office Sports

=== Creating the Right Atmosphere === Published by Front Office Sports

=== Why? === Published by Front Office Sports