Matthew Zahn
Matthew Zahn, Baseball Coach at Eastview Athletic Association has won Positive Coaching Alliance’s coveted National Double-Goal Coach® Award presented by TeamSnap for his positive impact on youth in sports.
Zahn is one of 50 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 $200 prize, a certificate, and mention within the websites and newsletters of Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), a national non-profit developing Better Athletes, Better People through youth and high school sports. Matthew and the other coach winners will be recognized at PCA’s National Youth Sports Awards Dinner and Benefit Sponsored by Deloitte to be held on April 28th, 2018 at Maples Pavilion on Stanford University’s campus in honor of their 20th Anniversary.
“Coach Zahn helps his athletes win on and off the field” said Amy Sinclair, Executive Director of PCA-Minnesota, the local Chapter of Positive Coaching Alliance. “By creating a positive, character-building youth sports experience and serving as a Double-Goal Coach®, Matthew helps youth develop into better athletes and better people.”
Zahn coaches kids from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds and has found a way to connect with them personally and connect them to one another. By focusing on skill development and meeting each player at their level, none of the boys feel challenged or vulnerable, and therefore all are willing to give it their best effort on the field. He connects with those who are struggling emotionally, taking the most challenging kids and often being requested as a coach because of the impact he has had on those who struggle in one way or another.
One reference shared that “Over the years, a parent learns to appreciate more and more the value of a great coach. I have seen coaches give up on kids and try to hide them in the field or bench them for an entire game. It’s not easy – but Matt will never, ever give up on his players. He doesn’t see his players as statistics – he views them as human beings who have potential – no matter what their skill level is upon entry.” Coach Zahn tweaks his own coaching approach to find just the right way to get through to each player because he realizes the same approach won’t work for each player.
Zahn himself had a promising career in baseball making it to a minor league farm team until his career was sidelined by a serious eye injury. Good players don’t always end up as good coaches, however, Zahn took his wealth of knowledge and experience to a youth league to assist and influence young boys as they began to form into young men. Along with coaching the game, he weaves in life lessons – learning to accept responsibly, give constructive feedback to their peers, be humble, and work together as a team. His approach has not only won him the hearts of his players, but has won a lot of games too.