Jonathan LeDonne – Penn Hills High School

Jonathan LeDonne, head coach of the Penn Hills High School Indians, says his hope as a coach is to develop leaders and build honorable young people of high character, on and off the field. That’s why, when introduced to CBIM through a fellow coach, he believed it was important to implement the program with his football team. Coach LeDonne reports “they were a little reserved at first, but as coaches related back to their own experiences, the players started opening up and participating in the conversations. Later in the program, when a topic was introduced, the players started sharing stories and responses.”

He says an open dialogue is very beneficial to today’s teenagers and believes the behaviors of the athletes that came through the program is rubbing off on those who have not been in the program. “When I am around athletes and non-athletes, I see a standard that wasn’t there before,” he remarks. “How they are acting, what they are saying, what they are doing, is definitely more positive. Teammates are more willing to call each other out and hold each other accountable than before.”