‘Positive Reinforcement’: Indy PAL coach influencing youth to remember their ‘God-given gifts’
INDIANAPOLIS — Coach Everette Wade Jr. has dedicated more than a decade to helping young men stay on track and reach their full potential.
To be successful with this task, he decided to meet them where they were, serving kids on and off the field year-round.
His love for sports runs deep.
“Coach Wade coaches not only football, but baseball and basketball here at PAL Club,” Niko Glasper, who nominated Coach Wade for September’s Jefferson Award for Multiplying Good, said.
But there’s a lot more to his coaching style than calling plays.
“Just seeing myself, the position I’m in, and where I come from, I’m just trying to be a positive reinforcement to them,” Wade said.
Coach Wade started with the Indy Police Athletic League (Indy PAL) in 2008. He’s spent 16 years providing young male athletes with the tools to tackle some of the biggest plays from the playbook of life.
“With a lot of stuff that’s going on and the influences that are out there, it’s easy for the kids to get sidetracked and distracted from their God-given gifts,” Wade said.
“Coach Wade, he was my coach since day one,” Cashton Griffin said.
Griffin is now in sixth grade.
“I look up to my coaches because I see something, and they just teach us a lot of things,” Griffin said.
Devoting countless hours of his time away from his family to make a huge difference in the lives of those who need it the most.
“They know that I truly care about them,” Wade said.
WRTV’s Amber Grigley told Wade that she wanted to highlight him for a series on the importance of male influence on our youth. But instead he was presented a medal for the prestigious Jefferson Award for Multiplying Good.
“Whew! That’s alright,” Wade said.
“He’s teaching the kids resilience and a lot of necessary core values that will take you throughout life. Because even if you’re not winning, you still can’t give up,” Glasper said.
“I’m really proud of Papa, like, really proud,” Reigna Wade, Coach Wade’s granddaughter, said. “He’s also taught me a lot this year.”
Coach Wade said he doesn’t see himself stopping just yet and plans to continue to show up for our youth by any means necessary.
