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LOCAL NEW YORK BASKETBALL COACH TO WIN PRESTIGIOUS NATIONAL COACHING HONOR

Ted Gustus, Youth Development Coach with Academics in Motion to Receive Positive Coaching Alliance Award

New York, NY – March 11, 2009 Academics In Motion (AIM) (www.academicsinmotion.org), basketball coach and long-time student mentor, Ted Gustus of Canarsie High School in Brooklyn, has won the Positive Coaching Alliance’s coveted Double-Goal Coach Award for his positive impact on student athletes. This prestigious award acknowledges remarkable coaches nation wide whose first goal is winning, and whose second, more-important goal is teaching life lessons through sports.

“It’s a great honor for Coach Gustus to be recognized with the Double-Goal Coach award,” says Terry Quinn, President and Co-Founder of AIM. “Coach Gustus demonstrates what it is to positively impact the lives of hundreds of young student athletes- his commitment transcends beyond the students he sees on a daily basis to the community as a whole.”

For over 30 years, Gustus has coached basketball and served as a teacher, crisis intervention counselor, life skills and academic coach, and has authored Confession of a M.A.D. (Making a Difference) Black Coach. Notable protégés include former NBA stars Rolando Blackman and John Salley. After playing on Canarsie’s 24-0 championship team with future NBA star World B. Free, Gustus became involved with coaching because he wanted to engage the young people in his community with a positive tool like basketball.

Selected as one of hundreds of Coaches in the nation who applied for the award, Coach Gustus will receive his honor at Stanford University on April 24th, 2009 during the PCA’s eighth annual National Youth Sports Awards dinner sponsored by Deloitte.

Academics in Motion is a year-round all-inclusive program that serves as an educational supplement for nine public schools in NYC. Through sports participation, the program creates a controlled one-on-one environment where students have access to on-site Youth Development Coaches (YDCs) at every participating school. The YDCs remain with the students for the entire academic year, establishing regular contact with the students, acting as mentors and helping them set and achieve goals.

Gustus’ passion for the community and for young people has made him a trusted and valued figure in the lives of all who have encountered him.

Media Contact: For more information on AIM please contact Maria Corredor at Sharp Communications: (212) 829-0002/ mc@sharpthink.com

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Contact Terry Quinn

E-mail: tquinn@academicsinmotion.org
Phone 917 576-9121