Positive Coaching Alliance
Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) is a national non-profit organization to create a positive, character-building youth sports environment.
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| Founded | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Jim Thompson |
| Focus | Positive Youth Development (athletics) |
| Headquarters | Suite 100, 1001 N. Rengstorff Ave., Mountain View, California |
Area served | United States |
| Products | Workshops, Scholarships, Books, Online Resources |
| Website | positivecoach |
Since its founding in 1998, PCA has established 18 chapters nationwide, partnered with roughly 3,500 schools and youth sports organizations to deliver more than 20,000 live group workshops, reaching 19.2 million youth. PCA offers interactive online courses and has thousands of multimedia tips and tools for coaches, parents, athletes, and leaders available free of charge on PCADevZone.org. PCA also runs two annual awards programs: a scholarship program for high school student-athletes and a coach award program to recognize youth and high school coaches who strive to win and teach life lessons.
PCA gains support from a National Advisory Board of elite coaches, professional and Olympic athletes, organization leaders, and academics who share PCA's mission including Dusty Baker, Carol Dweck, Herm Edwards, Julie Foudy, Phil Jackson, and Steve Kerr. PCA is proud to partner with more than 50 national governing bodies, youth-serving organizations and professional leagues and teams including Boys & Girls Club of America, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and US Lacrosse.
Mission
Youth sports currently involves 40M children, which presents a tremendous platform on which to develop youth character and life skills. Research has shown that in order for youth to accrue these benefits from sports, sports needs to be done in a way that creates a positive youth development culture. PCA ensures sports are ‘done right’ with programming that is research-based and designed to have an impact at three levels in a youth sports organization or school.
PCA Impact
PCA programming is research-based and designed to have impact at three levels in a youth sports organization or school. Data indicate that as a result of PCA programming:
- Youth experience improved life skills and character development.
- Coaches become more positive and increase their focus on using sports to teach life lessons.
- Youth sports organizations and schools see their cultures become more positive and everyone involved has more fun.
PCA Development Zone Resource Center
PCA's Developmental Zone Resource Center [1] provides thousands of resources to coaches, parents, athletes, and leaders that can search a database with nearly 2,000 shareable resources for everyone involved in youth and high school sports.
- Videos, podcasts, printable resources, and more...filled with research-based tips and tools to improve athletic performance while creating an environment in which youth learn life lessons that have great value beyond sports. If you're having trouble with a parent or coach or want more information on specialization or playing time... you can type in your topic and find relevant resources and tips.
- Real-world advice from pro and college coaches and athletes, including many on PCA's National Advisory Board, plus world-class sports psychologists, educators and organizational leaders.
- Resources for all roles: coaches, parents, administrators/leaders, student-athletes, and officials/referees.
PCA Awards Programs
Double-goal Coach Award [2]
Nominees are assessed on the extent to which they reflect the model of a Double-Goal Coach, whose first goal is winning, and whose second, more-important goal is teaching life lessons through sports. A Double-Goal Coach behaves as follows:
- Takes a mastery approach to sport rather than a scoreboard orientation, teaching athletes to put forward maximum effort, continuously learn and improve, and not let themselves be stopped by mistakes or fear of mistakes.
- Fills Emotional Tanks of athletes, refusing to motivate through fear, intimidation, or shame. Recognizing that a player's “Emotional Tank,” like the gas tank of a car, must be full in order to go anywhere, the Double-Goal Coach provides a fuel mixed of five specific, truthful praises for every specific, constructive correction.
- Honors the Game by respecting ROOTS (Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates, Self).
Each year, PCA begins taking nominations for this award in August. PCA's National Double-Goal Coach Award Winners can win the following.
$10,000 and the title of PCA National Coach of the Year (One Winner)
An all-expense-paid trip to California to attend PCA's National Youth Sports Awards & Benefit in the spring of 2020 and be featured on stage in a panel discussion (4 winners)
$1,000, certificate; recognition on PCA's website, newsletters and media campaigns; and 2 tickets to the Spring 2020 National Youth Sports Awards & Benefit ($500 value) (25 National Winners)
PCA's National Double-Goal Coach Award program is presented by TeamSnap.
Triple-Impact Competitor Scholarship [3]
PCA awards scholarships of $500-$2,000 (depending on location) to high school athletes, based on their responses to questions pertaining to how they meet the standard defined in Elevating Your Game: Becoming a Triple-Impact Competitor by PCA Founder Jim Thompson
- Personal Mastery: Making oneself better
- Leadership: Making one's teammates better
- Honoring the Game: Making the game better
Awards
The Positive Coaching Alliance gives out the Ronald L. Jensen award for Lifetime Achievement. The winners include:
- 2006 - Ted Leland
- 2007 - John Gagliardi
- 2008 - Jim Sochor
- 2009 - Tara VanDerveer
- 2010 - John Wooden
- 2011 - Bruce Bochy
- 2012 - Dick Gould
- 2013 - Phil Jackson
- 2014 - Joe Ehrmann
- 2015 - Dusty Baker
- 2016 - Billie Jean King
- 2017 - Carol Dweck
- 2018 - Steve Young
- 2019 - Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy, and Mia Hamm