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Community Corner

Palo Alto Coach Honored for Positive Influence

"By creating a positive, character-building youth sports experience, and serving as a Double-Goal Coach, Jackie helps youth develop into better athletes and better people."


Jackie Castro, a coach for Palo Alto Soccer Club and Sacred Heart Preparatory School in Atherton, has won Positive Coaching Alliance’s coveted Double-Goal Coach Award presented by Liberty Mutual Insurance for her positive impact on youth athletes. She will accept her award at Positive Coaching Alliance’s National Youth Sports Awards Dinner and Auction sponsored by Deloitte, April 20 at Sharon Heights Country Club in Menlo Park.

The Double-Goal Coach award – named for coaches who strive to win while pursuing the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports – carries a $250 prize, a trophy and mention within the websites and newsletters of Positive Coaching Alliance (www.PositiveCoach.org) and the Liberty Mutual Insurance Responsible Sports program (ResponsibleSports.com).

“Jackie helps youth athletes win on and off the field,” said Jim Thompson, founder and CEO of Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) and author of eight books on youth sports, including The Power of Double-Goal Coaching. “By creating a positive, character-building youth sports experience, and serving as a Double-Goal Coach, Jackie helps youth develop into better athletes and better people.”

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Castro cited an example of her coaching techniques. “I have a player who reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger. She’s really hard-working but very stubborn and hard on herself to the point where she crumbles in games if she makes a mistake. She throws tantrums at herself.  Over the last two years we’ve had lots of check-ins and talks.

“I shared with her things I did with my own coach to get over it quicker. I did this brush-your-shoulder-off thing…a physical thing. Take a quick breath. Brush it off. Get over it. You make a mistake, you learn from it, and move on. She had a hard time with that, but I told her she would have a thousand chances in a game to do things better and that’s what she should focus on. Every time she has one of those moments, and you can see in her eyes that she’s about to boil over, she looks over at me, and we brush our shoulders, and she refocuses.”

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Castro’s approach embodies the shared values that are central to Liberty Mutual Insurance and PCA, which also have partnered to help youth sports coaches and parents through the Liberty Mutual Insurance Responsible Sports Program Powered by Positive Coaching Alliance.

“This prestigious award celebrates coaches who are doing the right thing, by promoting the fundamental ideals of community through positive mentoring,” said Julie Brassard, Liberty Mutual Insurance manager of sponsorships.  “We applaud coaches like Jackie Castro for effectively using sports to teach valuable life lessons to our youth.”

Founded in 2007, the program serves as a means to highlight the positive impact that everyday, responsible actions can have on our youth. The program provides resources for parents and coaches at ResponsibleSports.com to help children reap the full benefits of playing a team sport.  The online community incorporates podcasts, videos, and best practices on youth sports topics that provide practical, real-world advice.  Parents and coaches also can complete guides on positive sports mentoring that offer best practices for handling challenging sports scenarios.

PCA’s National Youth Sports Awards Dinner and Auction sponsored by Deloitte, where Castro will receive her award, will feature 11-time NBA Champion Coach Phil Jackson accepting PCA’s Ronald L. Jensen Award for Lifetime Achievement and former Lakers player and Stanford University star Mark Madsen as master of ceremonies. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://donate.positivecoach.org/NYSA.

About Positive Coaching Alliance
Since its founding within the Stanford University Athletic Department in 1998, Positive Coaching Alliance has helped develop “Better Athletes, Better People” primarily through live group workshops, online courses and books by PCA Founder Jim Thompson for youth and high school sports coaches, parents, student-athletes and school/organizational leaders.

In partnership with nearly 2,000 schools and youth sports organizations nationwide, PCA has conducted more than 11,000 live group workshops and impacted nearly 5 million youth.

PCA workshops and courses strive to establish these prevailing models in youth and high school sports:

·         The Double-Goal Coach®, who strives to win while also pursuing the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports

·         The Second-Goal Parent®, who concentrates on life lessons, while letting coaches and athletes focus on competing

·         The Triple-Impact Competitor®, who strives to impact sport on three levels by improving oneself, teammates and the game as a whole.

PCA has the support of elite coaches and athletes on a National Advisory Board, including National Spokesperson and 11-time NBA Champion Coach Phil Jackson.

 

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