A majority of youth sports coaches fall into the role when their kids become old enough to participate. This was not the case for Coach of the Week, Kevin Hicks, of Round Rock, Texas. His coaching journey began six years ago with a job promotion, which encouraged him to get more involved with his local community. This unexpected path to volunteerism turned out to be a life-changing experience for the 33-year-old working professional.
When the United Parcel Service (UPS), notified Coach Hicks of his management level promotion, his superiors brought up the company’s philanthropic outreach commitment - as they do during most promotion offers. UPS highly encourages their employees to reach out to their local community. Hicks accepted the advancement and the challenge, choosing to volunteer as a coach for a local flag football team.
During his rookie season, Coach Hicks had no idea what to expect. While he certainly experienced the challenges of any first time youth sports coach, he immediately found that he enjoyed his time on the field, road bumps and all. More importantly, he took his commitment seriously, working to give each child a fun team experience.
“I not only had a great time but I had found a new passion for my life that I don’t see myself ever giving up entirely,” he wrote.
Over the years Coach Hicks has learned through various trainings and advice from fellow coaches, that focusing on the fundamentals is huge, but ensuring the kids have fun is key. Each season he strives to teach his players life lessons such as discipline, responsibly, teamwork and leadership. In the end, he hopes that these skills will translate into success not only on the field, but in the classroom and at home.
Now a veteran youth coach, Hicks has expanded his involvement to include more teams, advanced levels and additional seasons. Busy with a fall and summer schedule, his love of football and mentoring kids has also evolved into a larger organizational role. He now helps coordinate the season and assists in developing new leagues.
This fall however, he’s 100 percent focused on the Pop Warner Pee Wee Black Colts 12U football team. Coach Hicks is thrilled to be introducing the Colts to the true fundamentals of a game. Indeed, it seems he’s doing a great job inspiring his players and their parents. One of the player’s fathers awarded Coach Hicks Weplay’s Excellence prop for his head coaching efforts. The note on the prop reads, “Each coach brings their own unique talent and contributions. Coach Hicks makes use of positive encouragement. Building on positives, I believe, will help the team far more than any alternative. Thanks Coach!”
If that doesn’t reinforce Coach Hicks' outstanding volunteer efforts, what does! Congratulations again to our Coach of the week, Kevin Hicks. Go Colts!
