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Our next National Double-Goal Coach Award winner is Kea’au High School’s Gregory Lum Ho, Jr. – who has coached baseball, basketball, cross country and softball. “Gregory helps his athletes win in sports and beyond,” said Jeaney Garcia, Executive Director of PCA-Hawaii, the local Chapter of Positive Coaching Alliance. “By creating a positive, character-building youth sports experience and serving as a Double-Goal Coach, Gregory helps youth develop into better athletes and better people.” Lum Ho’s coaching philosophy stems from his father’s lessons in the tradition of the calabash, a bowl for depositing coins when you have them to give for those in need. “He preached to me to give back,” Lum Ho said. “I may not have the opportunity to give back directly to the coaches I had, but if I give to a student or young child coming up, that’s a way of thanking my coaches.” Among the ways Lum Ho gives back is by keeping foremost the goal of teaching life lessons through sports. “At the coaches, parents and kids meeting we have before every season, I tell them we’re here to learn life lessons, and if we learn a little about cross country or about basketball, then that’s just a bonus. I don’t worry about the score. If you’ve done your best, that’s all I can ask.” Such perspective was shaped in part by the loss of his son, Maka’ala, a promising 16-year-old basketball player, who drowned in a 2011 kayaking accident. “Because he was such a good kid and so many people knew him, all his friends rallied around me and helped support me,” Lum Ho recalled. “That made me want to continue coaching. I tell the kids that when I walk into the gym, this is where Maka is, and each and every one of you keep him alive when I see you making an extra pass or when I see you helping kids with their homework. I see a lot of his traits in these kids that I coach, and that makes me want to get to the gym, so I can be with Maka even though he’s no longer here.” Congratulations, Coach Lum Ho!
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