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02/05/2013 11:00 PMGuilford's Development Assets for Youth (DAY) is always looking for ways to provide positive impacts on the community's young people. On Saturday, Feb. 9, DAY makes it happen with a coaches workshop in partnership with the nonprofit, national organization Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA).
DAY currently has four initiatives that focus on the town's youth-valuing the youth, reinforcing family boundaries at home, encouraging positive peer influence among kids, and building positive adult and peer role models within the community. DAY member Kim Beckett, mother of a Guilford High School student, is using her athletics background to spearhead this latest event.
"Because many identify sports with one of the ways we can reach a very large population of youth, [DAY] asked me to head this up," Beckett said, noting that PCA was a good fit. "I was so impressed with all their information and resources they provide and their advisory board looks like a who's who of Sports Hall of Fame.
"This particular coaches' workshop will help to build positive adult role models and also build positive peer role models," Beckett continued. "It is a targeted effort to provide the most positive environment possible for Guilford youth athletes."
PCA works with coaches and parents to foster "double-goal" coaches who not only want players to succeed by winning, but also want athletes to build character through sporting events by providing tools including teamwork, discipline, respect, and goal-setting. PCA was founded by the Stanford University Athletic Department in 1998 and has conducted more than 10,000 workshops for more than 475,000 youth and high school sport coaches, parents, athletic departments, and schools.
The two-hour session will be at the Guilford High School library from 10 a.m. to noon, giving coaches the tools to provide a "team first attitude" that fosters internal motivation through both comprehensive and interactive information.
Eric Eisendrath, a PCA lead trainer, will lead the workshop. Eisendrath was a former Brown University hockey goalie and coached soccer, lacrosse, and hockey. Beckett said he has facilitated a previous DAY workshop, which was very well received by the public.
"His passion and his enthusiasm holds everyone's attention for the whole two hours with nobody getting bored," said Beckett. "The coaches are going to learn tips that they can immediately apply to their next practices."
Admission is free; all Guilford coaches are invited. Pre-registration is mandatory-to register or to learn more about the event, contact Beckett at kim.beckett@yale.edu or 203-214-6401. To learn more about PCA, visit www.positivecoach.org.