Coach Neil Hayden is the head boys basketball coach at DCHS. He is also a school guidance counselor at the High School. Before our radio interview, Coach Hayden let me know that my husband, Robin was his very first basketball coach. I asked him how things went when my husband was coaching and he said they did not win any games. We both got a big laugh out of that and thankfully my husband did not pursue coaching as his career!
A lot has changed since Neil began playing basketball. He knew early on that he wanted to coach basketball and he was driven towards his goal.
Neil talked about the different coaches that he had while playing that have influenced his life in some way and have molded him into the coach he is today. Coach Hayden is very involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and was recently named the FCA Coach of the Year.
Neil knows the importance of character development when it comes to his players. He wants his players to not only play really great basketball, but he wants them to do really well in their own personal lives after basketball. He developed the FCA character curriculum called ‘Purpose Driven’ for other coaches to use with their teams.
Not only is Neil interested in developing High School players, he is also going to coach preschool children and 2-5 graders at the Next Level after Fall Break. He talked about this program starting practices the first week of November. The preschool age children will practice on a dribble team and the second grade and up will play on a D-league team.
Watch Coach Hayden demonstrate one of the basketball drills he has his team do during their warm up.
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http://youtu.be/-21uWiPoSks