Coach Powell Joins Coaching Staff At Braden River

        Coach Robert Powell has been in the business of inspiring and mentoring youth in the community for most of his life.  He has that innate ability to lead and guide them, getting and keeping them on the right track.  He has been coaching for 30 years and has used coaching as an opportunity to touch the lives of these young boys as a mentor and role model.  After a hiatus from coaching, Coach Powell joins the coaching staff at Braden River High School.

Coach Powell will be working with the varsity football team. He has not yet committed to coaching a position and says his primary role will be to mentor and coach the young men about life – something he has done most of his life. “We know that these young boys cannot perform on the field if they are having issues off the field,” Coach said. “So, I will be the guy they can reach out to help them through their issues. I guess that makes me a “Life Coach”, he said.

Because of his schedule, Coach had not coached football in a few years. “When Coach (Curt) Bradley (varsity football coach) reached out to me about coaching and joining the team, I was still unsure,” he said.

“I told him that with my schedule, I didn’t think it would work. But he said to me, ‘Coach, I don’t care if you’re only here on Friday nights, I need a man like you in my program to help teach the boys how to be men.’ I knew then that God had a plan for me, and I needed to follow it.”

“I am definitely loving my new position because I get to do what I love and that’s pour wisdom into the lives of young men and hopefully give them something positive that will stick with them the rest of their lives,” Coach said. He began coaching football and basketball at the 13th Ave Community Center. From there, it was basketball at Manatee PAL, basketball at the Boys and Girls Club, baseball at 13th Avenue Community Center and Braden River little league. He started his high school coaching career as an assistant varsity basketball coach under Troy Bellamy at Manatee High School where he coached JV and varsity football. After leaving Manatee, he began coaching football and basketball at his alma mater, Southeast High School. After that, he joined his good friend, Reggie Bellamy, as an assistant varsity basketball coach at Palmetto High School.

Coach Powell is employed with AMIkids in Manatee County as Lead Behavioral Interventionist and Director of Operations. The program is an alternative school for middle school boys who have had behavioral and academic issues in their regular school and need extra attention. “They come to us for a year or more and work through our program on correcting their behavior. We also help them get caught up academically so they can transition back to their regular school.” Coach believes that his work with the youth is important work.

“If you look around, our youth don’t have many positive male role models that they can look up to. Our young men need good men to show them how to be good men. God blessed me with the ability to communicate with the youth – that’s my calling and I pray daily that something I’ve said or done will help at least one of them make positive life decisions.”

Coach Powell has two amazing “grown“ children, Maliyah and Miclayne. He is a member of Faith Temple Church of God In Christ, under the leadership of Pastor Frank Jenkins Sr. and is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.