Congratulations to Coach Lindy Bain for being a finalist in the 2015 Positive Coaching Alliance Double-Goal Coach Award. This award is for youth and high school sports coaches in the U.S. “who embody the ideals of the Double-Goal Coach, striving to win, while also pursuing the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports.” He was in the top 75 out of 2100 nominations.
See below for quotes from some of the nominations for Coach Bain.
From the moment you first meet him to when you say goodbye, not only have you made astronomical improvements in your running, you’ve become a substantially better person. I would go as far as to say the improvements you make as a person exceed those as a runner, and his runners improve more than they could have ever imagined. Through being a member of his teams, he has taught me to love those around me, and to forgive those who have wronged you in some way. Also, he has taught me crucial leadership skills that have benefitted me throughout high school and will undoubtedly do so for the remainder of my life. Though among everything I’ve learned from Coach Bain, I strongly believe the most important lesson I’ve learned is to treat everybody equally.
The man has touched the lives of a countless quantity of individuals, and this becomes very apparent everywhere I go with him. There’s not a track or cross country meet I can remember where someone wasn’t yearning to have a word with Coach Bain, and this simply shows how he has positively affected the lives of everyone who has known him.
Coach Bain runs the miles and puts in the hours of sweat equity. His pace has slowed, but his dedication has not. Alumni have taken up Coach Bain’s dedication to the sport. They are visible coaching area teams, assisting and volunteering at local races, mentoring young harriers, and lending support to the up and coming high school athletes. I believe this can be traced directly back to Coach Bain and his guiding hand.
Additionally, Coach Bain took great pride in not only having good runners, but good men on the team. He emphasized good sportsmanship as well as always making sure we thanked the course or track hosts before leaving.
For the last 30 years, he has served as almost a second father figure to the hundreds of boys who have run for him, and the life lessons he imparts resonate for a very long time after each athlete has graduated.
He developed and challenged me athletically without negativity of any sort and prepared me effectively for a productive collegiate cross country/track career. I am without a doubt a better person for having run for Lindy Bain, and my life continues to be influenced for the better through his friendship now as an adult.
The boys that run for him are motivated to be the best athletes they can be, but also the best people they can be. He teaches them to deal with adversity, in life or in sports, in thoughtful and productive ways. He encourages and expects them to be responsible for their behavior.
There is something special about Coach Bain that is simply indescribable. He is able to make you want to do your best, not because you are worried about what might happen if you don’t perform well or because you feel like you have to do well for him, but because he sparks a drive inside of you that makes you want to work as hard as you can and achieve your best.
He dedicates himself tirelessly to seeing that each athlete grows to his maximum potential both on and off the track.
Friends of WAHS Cross Country, Track & Field 