DAVIE – The Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) of South Florida and BEST Football League will host the “Coaches Clinic – The Value Coaches Bring” at 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 26, at Nova Southeastern University in Davie.
There is no attendance fee for the event which will feature guest speakers including Brian Jenkins, head coach of Bethune-Cookman University, and Newton B. Sanon, president/CEO of OIC of South Florida.
A statement from the organizers said sports coaches are an untapped resource when it comes to mentoring youth and promoting positive youth development.
“In addition to coaching the rules of the game, sports coaches can certainly help to teach the rules of life. Decision-making, problem-solving, being a productive member of a team and handling disappointment are just a few of the life skills that can be taught,” the statement said.
Sam Goodman, president of BEST Youth League, said the goal of the Coaches’ Clinic is to raise the graduation rate among youth with a plan that
includes training coaches to use their influence through their sports programs “to educate, mentor and display a level of integrity that our youth can emulate.”
“We want to give the kids a choice of opportunities that goes beyond their environment, beyond what they know. We want to expose them to the many different potential careers, educational, vocational and service opportunities that are possible in our community around us,” Goodman said.
“In order to reach these kids, we need to go where they are,” said Sanon, who heads the community-based workforce development and training center that seeks to help adults, youth and families maximize their potential.
“We are in the schools providing education and mentoring services but that isn’t always enough. Our youth need guidance from the people that are the most influential to them and many times that guidance comes from the coaches that these students spend years with while competing in youth leagues,”
Sanon said.
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