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Tom Bower Wins National Coaching Award Latin soccer coach and athletic director Tom Bower has won the Positive Coaching Alliance���s coveted Double-Goal Coach Award for his positive impact on young athletes. Bower is one of 20 winners of the award, which recognizes youth and high school coaches ���whose first goal is winning and whose second, more-important goal is teaching life lessons through sports.��� Hundreds of coaches from around the country were nominated for the prestigious award. ���Tom wins on the scoreboard, and more importantly, he wins by creating a positive, character-building sports experience for youth athletes,��� said Jim Thompson, PCA���s founder and executive director and author of several books on youth and high school sport coaching and sports parenting. ���Ultimately, the youth athletes Tom coaches are the real winners, and as those athletes become tomorrow���s leaders, our society as a whole wins.��� Since coming to Latin in 1981, Coach Bower has experienced numerous successes, including leading the girls varsity soccer team to the state finals in 2006 and being named Sectional Coach of the Year and Independent School League Coach of the Year six times. Equally as rewarding, however, has been his work with young athletes off the field. He was instrumental in bringing the Positive Coaching Alliance, a Stanford University-based program that works with coaches to teach characterbuilding lessons along with athletic skills development to students. He also formed the Captain���s Council, which teaches leadership skills to team captains. ���Winning athletic contests and striving for success are obvious goals of participating in athletics,��� Bower said in a recent interview. ���But a coach must always keep in mind the true nature of the coaching profession: to guide young people on a journey of self-discovery and learning. The high school sports experience can be powerful and the impact lasting. It is not all about winning or losing, and the coach plays a huge role in creating the tone.��� No doubt, Coach Bower has created and continues to create an inspiring tone for generations of Latin athletes. To learn more about Tom Bower���s views on coaching see the ���A Coach���s View��� article in the Spring 2009 issue of Latin Magazine. (www.latinschool.org go to Latin Today / Latin Magazine.) ���Tom wins on the scoreboard, and more importantly, he wins by creating a positive, characterbuilding sports experience for youth athletes.��� ��� Jim Thompson, Founder of Positive Coaching Alliance Coach Tom Bower. Latin School of Chicago 9