On Tuesday, officials at the La Cañada Unified School District in California supported a program called the Positive Coaching Alliance that they hope will change the culture surrounding athletics for the better.
The program, funded by boosters, seeks to broaden the focus of coaches, student-athletes and parents beyond just winning and breaking records, and shift it to the wider goal of personal development through sports. “Winning” becomes about more than just the numbers on the scoreboard.
The Positive Coaching Alliance has worked with 3,500 schools and sports programs nationwide, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Alliance provides training to schools to be implemented across the entire athletics program. The result is, hopefully, a culture that supports student-athletes as people, and not simply competitors. Check out more on the Alliance in the video below:
La Cañada athletic director Kristina Kalb said that she began exploring the program after hearing stories about poor behavior among fans, coaches and players.
“Two years ago when I became athletic director, I noticed there were certain aspects of the culture that I absolutely loved and enjoyed in La Cañada,” she told the Times. “However, there was also some room for growth.”
In her conversations with other districts and schools, she heard repeated references to the Positive Coaching Alliance, which began in the Stanford University athletic department in 1998.
Kalb worked with boosters to work out funding for the program for a two-year period.
“I’m so exicted this has been introduced to the school and has been embedded into the organizational culture,” school board member Kaitzer Puglia said.
