UIL sets coaches up with training

By Jason McDaniel
Chronicle correspondent
The University Interscholastic League recently became the first state organization in the country to provide all its coaches with free Positive Coaching Alliance Double-Goal Coach training.
Double-Goal coaches set winning as a first goal while pursuing the second, more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports.
Partnering with Positive Coaching Alliance is key to advancing Texas' rich history and tradition of excellence in high school and junior high school athletics," UIL Executive Director Dr. Charles Breithaupt said. Soon, all 45,000 of our coaches will be trained to teach life lessons through sports, so they can extend that excellence beyond the playing field into all facets of our student-athletes' lives.
Our UIL athletic programs are designed to develop leaders that best serve our students and therefore best serve the future of our state."
PCA will provide its training at no cost to the UIL and its coaches with the support of the Jenesis Group, a Dallas-based family foundation.
Coaches have a tremendous influence on their athletes, perhaps more so than anyone outside the family," said James Jensen, the managing director of the Jenesis Group. This partnership will equip Texas junior high and high school coaches to become outstanding character educators, which will greatly benefit the youth of our state.
The Jenesis Group hopes to see the day when every coach in this country is a Double-Goal Coach. UIL is to be commended for this historic action, which is a major milestone to this goal."
Training will take place through an online course customized for the UIL and featuring instruction from L.A. Lakers coach Phil Jackson, PCA's national spokesperson, as well as PCA National Advisory Board Member and former U.S. National Women's Soccer Team captain Julie Foudy.
PCA also provides live group workshops for individual schools and youth sports organizations through local offices launched in Dallas and Houston in the last two years.
Texas has become a national leader in coaching for character at both the local and state levels," said Jim Thompson, PCA's founder and executive director. We admire UIL for its leadership in making character education a priority, and we are deeply grateful to the Jenesis Group for making this possible."