AJ Hendrix, baseball coach at Tampa Preparatory School, has won Positive Coaching Alliance’s coveted Double-Goal Coach Award presented by TeamSnap for his positive impact on youth athletes.
Hendrix is one of 25 national recipients of the Double-Goal Coach award, named for coaches who strive to win while also pursuing the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports. The award includes a $250 prize, a trophy and mention within the websites and newsletters of Positive Coaching Alliance, a national non-profit dedicated to using youth and high school sports to develop Better Athletes, Better People.
“AJ helps his players win on and off the field,” said Jim Thompson, founder and CEO of Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) and author of nine books on youth sports, including The Power of Double-Goal Coaching. “By creating a positive, character-building youth sports experience, and serving as a Double-Goal Coach, AJ helps youth develop into better athletes and better people.”
Hendrix, who benefitted from a coach’s impact at a young age, is now “paying it forward” to his players. “I got into coaching because I had a baseball coach named John Cate, who took me under his wing after my father passed away,” Hendrix said. “During high school I always thought Coach Cate was a tough, hard guy, but later I saw that he was teaching me the value of hard work. That’s what I want to return to my players. I want them to work hard each and every day, and hopefully that will carry into the classroom and the jobs that they have when they get out of sports because not many of us get to play sports professionally.”
Hendrix’s players and their parents responded in kind three years ago when he was hospitalized for a month with pancreatitis. “My players and their families would come visit me in the hospital, and they organized meals for my family,” he said. “You could tell what a baseball family we had created here – not only me, but also the athletic director, the coaches, and the players – how close we were.”
Such experiences demonstrate the role sports can play in the development of youth, said Mark Sakalosky, PCA-Tampa Bay Chapter Executive Director. “Our Chapter’s employees, board and supporters are thrilled that Coach Hendrix is getting national recognition for his work at Tampa Prep. Having an award-winning Double-Goal Coach in our community provides an example for other coaches to emulate, so thousands more youth and high school athletes in our area can benefit from a positive, character-building sports experience.”
Information written and provided by the Positive Coaching Alliance