PCA Updates
March 8, 2022, Tampa, FL – Last week Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) announced its coveted National Double-Goal Coach® Award winners presented by TeamSnap to coaches who make a positive impact through youth sports.
The Double-Goal Coach® Award recognizes coaches who teach their teams to strive to win while also pursuing the important goal of teaching life lessons. Twenty-five (25) national winners have been named and each will receive a certificate, $500, and recognition within the websites and newsletters of PCA. One grand-prize winner will be honored as the PCA Coach of The Year and win the $10,000 Taube Family Prize in Recognition of Excellence in Coaching ($2,500 to the coach and $7,500 to the youth sports organization or school of his/her choice).
PCA - Tampa Bay is proud to recognize two (2) coaches as recipients of this national award:
Eric Blackburn, Newsome High School, Boys Lacrosse; and Fernando Saavedra, Florida Elite Volleyball Academy (FEVA), Volleyball.
Blackburn has coached for 35 years and is in his 11th year coaching lacrosse at Newsome High School. He grew up in Massachusetts and was a multi-sport athlete in high school. He attended the U.S. Coast Guard Academy where he continued his love of sports playing rugby. He works for the Department of Homeland Security and has served 29 years with the federal government.
“It’s not just about winning. Winning is good, but what I love is leading a young group of athletes to their goals and making sports fun,” said Blackburn.
Saavedra grew up in Bolivia where he participated in soccer, track and volleyball, eventually earning a position on the Bolivian Youth National Team. He continued playing indoor volleyball and beach volleyball in college and moved to Tampa in 2001. Saavedra has coached at local Tampa volleyball clubs for over 15 years, most recently forming FEVA, along with his wife, Katia Saavedra, and Davis Lauderdale. The Saavedras also own and operate Sand Life Volleyball.
“The last thing I want athletes thinking when they leave practice is the knowledge of their positives and need of improvements inspiring them until the next time they step onto the court,” said Saavedra.
“It’s an honor to have Coach Blackburn and Coach Saavedra here in our Tampa Bay community,” said Mason Brady, Executive Director of PCA - Tampa Bay, the local chapter of Positive Coaching Alliance. “The efforts they are putting into their teams now will continue to positively impact us as these youth athletes become our future.”
PCA - Tampa Bay’s 2022 Regional Double-Goal Coach Award Winners are sponsored locally by Weatherford Capital:
Eric Blackburn, Newsome High School; Matthew Booth, Canterbury School Ft. Myers; Michael Craig, Limitless Lacrosse; T.J. Goelz, Lakewood Ranch High School; Jerrell Hardy, Cypress Creek High School; Carrie Mahon, H. B. Plant High School; Darlene Nelson, Hillsborough County Parks & Recreation; Angel Ramirez, Wiregrass Ranch High School; Fernando Saavedra, Florida Elite Volleyball Academy.
