Article Contributed on: 2/20/2008 12:32:20 PM
Denver Youth Football Coach Recognized
For Exceptional Work in Mentoring Today's Youth
Jose Cardenas Receives Responsible Coaching Award and $500 Grant from Liberty Mutual
DENVER - Liberty Mutual, one of the nation's leading auto and home insurers, has selected youth football coach Jose Cardenas of the Johnson Boys & Girls Club in Denver as a 2007 Responsible Coaching Award winner. The award honors nearly 100 football and soccer coaches
countywide who best reflect character building and sportsmanship in their approach to mentoring young athletes. Liberty Mutual will provide the Johnson Boys & Girls Club with a $500 grant in honor Jose Cardenas' award.
"The Responsible Coaching Award celebrates tangible examples of the dedication and selflessness of youth coaches across America who give of themselves to teach our children the rules of sport and fair play, and, in many cases, the rules of life," said Greg Gordon, vice president of Consumer Marketing at Liberty Mutual. "Youth coaches like Jose Cardenas create positive environments for children that we can all emulate."
Jose Cardenas was among thousands of coaches countrywide nominated online by parents, peers and organizations at
www.responsiblesports.com between September 17 and December 7, 2007. Winning coaches were selected by a committee of representatives from Positive Coaching Alliance, USA Football, US Youth Soccer and Liberty Mutual.
Grant recipients were judged based on their ability to:
• Exhibit a high level of coaching competence;
• Achieve and maintain excellence on the field; and
• Demonstrate an on-going commitment to the well-being and development of athletes off the field.
Liberty Mutual launched ResponsibleSports.com last fall in partnership with Positive Coaching Alliance, USA Football and US Youth Soccer. The online resource provides parents and coaches with advice, toolkits and best practices on coaching and mentoring today's youth, so they can maximize the positive role they play in young athletes' lives.
Overall, Liberty Mutual is supporting 88 youth football and soccer organizations nationally with a combined $44,000 in grants to celebrate the role these coaches play in their communities to help children succeed both on and off the field. The winning coaches are profiled at
www.responsiblesports.com.
Jose Cardenas' Johnson Boys & Girls Club football team is a part of the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Denver and includes players ages nine to 11 years old. He has years of experience volunteering as a coach for youth sporting leagues, including the Johnson Bulldog's girls softball, girls basketball and football teams. His girls basketball team was the 2006 division runner up, and he brought the Johnson Bulldog's football team an overtime period away from the 2006 championship game. Now in its third year under Coach Cardenas' direction, the team was undefeated and named the 2007 champions in its division.
However, being a Responsible Coach is about more than just bringing a team to victory; it is about his positive impact outside of practice and games. Coach Cardenas has excelled at coaching youth from a high risk neighborhood. Each week he assists them with their homework and stays involved with their parents to insure they stay on track.
"Youth football coaches are the backbone of America's favorite sport," said USA Football Executive Director Scott Hallenbeck. "These women and men - often moms and dads - are dedicated volunteers, organizing leagues and teams with limited resources. Mentors like Jose Cardenas weave football's values of teamwork and responsibility into each practice and game for their kids. They deserve this recognition, and Liberty Mutual's grant goes a long way to ensure that youngsters have an even greater football experience."
About Liberty Mutual Group
Liberty Mutual Group (
www.libertymutual.com) is a leading multi-line insurer in the U.S. whose largest line of business is personal auto based on 2006 direct written premium. A top ten provider of auto and home insurance to individuals, Liberty Mutual is an industry leader in affinity partnerships, offering its personal lines products to employees and members of more than 10,000 companies, credit unions, and alumni and professional associations. Liberty Mutual Group ranks 95th on the Fortune 500 list of largest corporations in the United States. The company, headquartered in Boston, Mass., employs over 39,000 people in more than 900 offices throughout the world.
About Positive Coaching Alliance
Since its founding within the Stanford University Athletic Department in 1998, PCA has conducted roughly 5,000 live group workshops nationwide for more than 200,000 youth sports leaders, coaches, parents and athletes. PCA trains workshop attendees to create a positive, character-building environment for youth athletes, replacing the prevalent win-at-all-cost mentality.
PCA has affected more than 2.2 million youth athletes through partnerships with 1,100-plus youth sports organizations, cities and schools that host workshops across the U.S., primarily near PCA's hub markets of Northern California, Southern California, Chicago, Hawaii, Houston, Milwaukee, New York City and Washington, DC. Thousands of other coaches and parents learn PCA methods via online courses at
www.PositiveCoach.org.
About US Youth Soccer
US Youth Soccer - The Game for ALL Kids!® is the largest youth sports organization in the country and largest member of the United States Soccer Federation, the governing body of soccer in the United States. US Youth Soccer registers more than 3.2 million players annually, ages 5 to 19, and over 900,000 administrators, coaches and volunteers in 55 member state associations. US Youth Soccer programs provide a fun, safe and healthy environment for players at every level of the game. For more information, visit
www.USYouthSoccer.org.
About USA Football
USA Football is the national governing body of America's favorite sport, leading the game's development on youth and amateur levels with coaching education programs and a myriad of additional resources. More than 3.2 million American youngsters ages 6-14 played organized tackle football in 2007 and 1.13 million high school boys play football, which more than doubles the next-most popular sport among that group. An independent non-profit, USA Football was endowed by the NFL and NFL Players Association in 2002. Former U.S. Congressman and Buffalo Bills quarterback Jack Kemp serves as USA Football's chairman. For more information, log on to
www.usafootball.com.