Paige Forster, the director of coaching for the Arlington Soccer Club, has been named a Regional Double-Goal Coach Award winner by Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA).

Forster was selected as one of 100 coaches nationwide for this recognition "because she leads players and coaches at the Arlington Soccer Club with thoughtfulness, caring, positivity and accountability,” said Beth O’Neill Maloney, executive director of PCA’s New England chapter, in a Feb. 18 news release.

Maloney said: “Forster’s nomination, and the references submitted by the parents of children she has coached, as well as the coaches she has coached as Arlington’s director of coaching, made clear that she not only understands the X’s and O’s of the beautiful game, but that she also knows how to bring out the best in each person she coaches.” 

Maloney was impressed with the descriptions of Forster as “a ‘once-in-a-lifetime coach’ who can elevate a player’s game while addressing the areas in which they need to grow. With the oft-repeated mantra that ‘confidence is key,’ Forster has an exceptional impact on the 300-plus volunteer coaches and the almost 2,000 young athletes in the Arlington Soccer Club by developing a positive youth development culture.” 

PCA is a a national nonprofit committed to the development of better athletes, better people through sports done right. Believing that “what gets rewarded, gets repeated,” PCA names the finest youth and high school coaches across the country for this award to shine a spotlight on their exceptional efforts to make sports for young athletes a place where they can come together to learn, grow and develop the character they need to thrive in sports, and in life.

The award winners have been recognized on PCA’s national website here and will be profiled in New England in newsletters on the PCA/NE site in the coming weeks.

Since its founding in 1998, PCA has established 18 chapters nationwide, partnered with roughly 3,500 schools and youth sports organizations to deliver more than 20,000 live group workshops, reaching 19.2 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 this coach award program to recognize youth and high school coaches who strive to win and teach life lessons. 

In New England in 2019, PCA delivered 211 workshops reaching some 63,000 kids.

This news summary was published Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020.