Ottawa Hills Local Schools has created a new partnership with the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), a national non-profit movement that inspires and empowers youth and high school sports organizations to leverage the unique opportunity sports presents to build character in our youth.

The partnership provides the Ottawa Hills Local School administrators, coaches, parents and athletes with access to PCA’s research-based training, tools and resources.  Those resources come in the form of live interactive workshops, online courses, books by PCA Founder Jim Thompson and additional online resources.

PCA has partnered with over 3,500 schools, districts, conferences, youth sports organizations and park-and-rec departments to create a Development Zone®  culture, with a vision that all youth can benefit from a positive, inclusive sports culture that develops social and emotional skills, molds character and prepares them for competition and for life.

"As Ottawa Hills Local Schools continues to grow and evolve, we are so excited to have the opportunity to partner with the Positive Coaching Alliance to better bring forward a philosophy of teamwork, positivity and motivation that directly matches our district's mission of challenging and inspiring our students to realize their unique potential, both on the athletic fields and in the classroom where we hope they take what they have learned and become active and responsible citizens in our community,”said Superintendent Dr. Adam Fineske. 

Tammy Talmage, Athletic Administrator for Ottawa Hills Local Schools added, “I am excited for the opportunity to have our school leaders, coaches, parents and athletes partner with the Positive Coaching Alliance. Personally, I am looking forward to being a part of an experience that can help all of us ensure a positive youth development experience for all of our kids through sports!”

“It’s no surprise that Ottawa Hills Local Schools is at the top of the list in Ohio according to the annual U.S News & World Report.”, said PCA Regional Partnership Manager, Ryan Virtue. “Although they experience tremendous success, Dr. Fineske, Mrs. Talmage and the leadership at Ottawa Hills have growth mindsets and a strong desire to continue to grow and improve in service of their students.  When it comes to social-emotional learning integration to develop the whole child, athletics plays a vital role.  I am excited for this partnership.”

About Positive Coaching Alliance

As a catalyst for a positive youth sports culture, Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) is a national non-profit organization that trains leaders, coaches, parents and athletes to ensure a positive youth development experience for ALL kids, in all communities across the U,S.  PCA’s programming helps to ensure sports are ‘done right.’ and aims to impact sports organizations on three levels:

• Youth experience improved life skills and character development.  They also perform better!
• Coaches become more positive and increase their focus on using sports to teach life lessons.
• Youth Sports Organizations & Schools see their cultures become more positive and everyone involved has more fun.

Since its founding in 1998, PCA has established partnerships with roughly 3,500 schools and youth sports organizations to deliver more than 20,000 live group workshops, reaching over 20 million youth. PCA offers interactive online courses and has thousands of multimedia tips and tools for coaches, parents, athletes, and leaders available free of charge on PCADevZone.org. PCA also runs two annual awards programs: a scholarship program for high school student-athletes and a coach award program to recognize youth and high school coaches who strive to win and teach life lessons.

PCA gains support from a National Advisory Board of elite coaches, professional and Olympic athletes, organization leaders, and academics who share PCA’s mission including former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach, Lindsay Gottlieb and others such as Joe Thomas, Dusty Baker, Carol Dweck, Herm Edwards, Julie Foudy, Phil Jackson, and Steve Kerr. PCA is proud to partner with more than 50 national governing bodies, youth serving organizations and professional leagues and teams including Boys & Girls Club of America, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and US Lacrosse.

About Ottawa Hills Local Schools

In partnership with our community, Ottawa Hills Local Schools will challenge and inspire each student to realize his or her unique potential; embrace learning as a lifelong process, and to become an active and responsible citizen.

The core values of an organization are those values we hold which form the foundation on which we perform work and conduct ourselves. The values underlie our work, how we interact with each other, and which strategies we employ to fulfill our mission. The core values are the basic elements of how we go about our work. They are the practices we use (or should be using) every day in everything we do.

For more information about Ottawa Hills Local School, please visit ohschools.org