Local coach picks up NFL award
London Community News
If Dave Hocking didn’t already know he’s a good football mentor, he definitely knows now after being named the 2012 NFL Youth Coach of the Year in an announcement Tuesday (Nov. 13) by NFL Canada.
“It is one thing to coach but it is another to be a wonderful role model and mentor for so many children and people,” said football parent Angela Philips Osmond in a nomination essay that helped shortlist Hocking for the award out 687 submissions nominating 350 people.
The 32-year-old coach works with three local teams in the John Paul II High School Jaguars and the London Minor Football Association’s atom and tyke squads.
“The NFL Youth Coach of the Year award enables us to put the spotlight on football coaches whose efforts transcend the win-loss column,” said Dan Quinn, Managing Director of NFL Canada in a media release.
On top of his bench boss duties, Hocking also runs a charity called Cleats for Kids that takes gently used football and baseball cleats and hands them out to kids whose parents might not be able to afford them.
“His teams also do community cleanups, food drives and clothing drives for a local women’s shelter. His selfless acts inspire others to do more. He is very deserving of this recognition,” Osmond’s nomination letter continues.
After being selected by a panel of journalists for the 14th edition of the NFL award, Hocking will receive $5,000 worth of sport equipment, as well as win a trip to the Vanier Cup, held in Toronto, where he will be honoured at a Canadian Interuniversity Sport ceremony.
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