[ad_1]
Leading up to our National #YouthSportsAwards on April 28th, we will be highlighting each of our 50 National Double-Goal Coach® Award Winners presented by TeamSnap! First up is Darren Schmidt who coaches Football 🏈 , Baseball ⚾️ and Basketball 🏀 at East Harlem Pride-Park East High School in New York City.
The East Harlem Pride is a team comprised of members of 6 small high schools all located in East Harlem. To organize this team and these varied players requires “maximum effort always’, which is Schmidt’s mentality in everything he does as he approaches his work as a math teacher and coach for three sports. He created the football program from the ground up with no home field or practice field and has taken the team to the league quarter-finals or better for at least the last 5 years.
Schmidt, a four year Columbia Football player at Columbia University in the City of New York, immediately saw the need for a football program for area schools and didn’t let obstacles get in his way. He and another teacher worked to get the program started and raised the funds needed to provide equipment and uniforms. His devotion to the team and to ensuring that every boy has an opportunity play is impressive to say the least.
Both in the classroom and on the field, Schmidt has a favorite saying, “win the next snap” which he got from a football coach in college. “He was a coach that I really gravitated toward. He was someone who was relentlessly positive and it resonated with me. He gave each member of the team a card with “win the next snap” on it and I keep it in my billfold to this day”, Schmidt said. This has become a guiding principle for his team and in his classroom demonstrating his commitment to moving past failure, never giving up and always trying again.
His players relayed that they have learned everything about football from safety to plays from Schmidt, but also learned life lessons about character, respect, healthy lifestyles and leadership not from Schmidt preaching to them, but by living his own life in this way. For Darren’s full feature, visit our Facebook page!
[ad_2]
Source
