Unleashing the power within.
Every Monday, I will share a resident of the South Bay contributing to making our community a better place.
Today’s MCM title belongs to Jacob Yowell who is North High School’s Cross Country & Track and Field Coach who has used his love of sports to changes people’s lives by being the source that helps his athletes unleash the power within them.
Jacob, 27, was born in Gardena and later raised in Torrance, CA. Upon graduating in 2006 graduated from North Torrance High School, he studied Sociology at UCI. Today, along with being a substitute teacher for Torrance Unified School District, he is the head coach for the Cross Country & Track and Field programs at North High.
His main duty is to oversee all administrative, financial, and training duties for both programs. A typical day for Jacob looks like this: he gets a call from the Torrance Unified School District, giving him the details of the subbing assignment that he will be working. Upon completing subbing, he heads into his office out at the football stadium.
Each day, Jacob oversees a team meeting at 2:00 pm where he addresses the team on any important items or events coming up in the next couple of days and weeks. After that, the team warm ups with his assistant coaches and he heads back to his office to handle any athletic and administrative work.
Finally, he heads out to the track to put his athletes through their work out and once practice is over, he heads back to the office to prepare for the next day. Despite his long day, he commits to completing his own workout in the school’s weight room before heading home to relax.
When asked what being a Coach means to Jacob, he says, “I could tell you that it means everything to me, but even then, the answer wouldn’t do the question any justice. To be a coach means I have the platform and power to be so much more than that to so many athletes. With that great power comes great responsibility. A responsibility I’ve been blessed and a responsibility in which I cherish.”
Remarkably, Jacob says that he did not choose the career and instead, it chose him. “The last thing I pictured myself doing coming out of college was coaching Cross Country/Track & Field. I felt that my love, drive and passion for the sport was one that only an elite level athlete would possess,” he says.
However, he believed that this mentality wouldn’t lead to success for high school athletes who didn’t share those same feeling and in turn bring frustration to him as a coach. He was then approached by an old coach to oversee the sprints and hurdles for the track team in the fall of the 2012-2013 school year.
He thought back on how dominate the teams at North where when he was attending and knew how bad the teams had gotten with the departure of former coaches. With that in mind, he felt that maybe he could lend a hand in helping rebuild the program. He is happy to say that in his 4th season as a coach, second as the head coach, the success of the programs is back where it once was and is continuing to grow year by year.
Undoubtedly, he owes his success as a coach to the same love, desire, and passion he had as an athlete which he says is now the same for him as a coach.
When Jacob is not working, he enjoys spending time with his family or exploring Southern California. “I love my family and nothing comes before them so I like to just spend time with them when I can,” he says. He also feels lucky enough to live five minutes from the beach and 2 hours from the snow.
He is inspired by the quote, “Success isn’t measured by the amount of money you make but the amount of lives you impact.” He says that the quote sums up the relationship that is created between athletes and their coach which he says is irreplaceable.
Jacob says that as a Coach, athletes grow on you and you on them. He has found that they challenge you and you challenge them, they change you and you change them. He enjoys witnessing their growth based on the impact he has had on them and in vice versa.
He’d like others to know how much it all really means to coaches. “In the great seasons, you’re on cloud nine right there with the athletes and in the bad seasons you hurt sometimes more than they do. It truly is an emotional roller coaster. You give them your all and you see them sweat, cry and bleed for you,” he says. Jacob would like parents and athletes to understand how much the coach’s want for each and every one of their athletes to be successful and how they’d exhaust all their means to ensure it happens.
Thank you, Jacob, for being a positive influence in the South Bay community and using your position as a Coach to reach a multitude of young men and women.
