Eric Stowell

Founder-Officer

903-216-8769

I am originally from Winfield Kansas and am a 1993 graduate of Athens High School. I completed my trades degree in 1997 and worked in the HVAC and home appliance industry until 2017 when I made a career change and have been working at Mewbourne Oil Company in Tyler as the Fleet and Facilities Coordinator since 2018. During my 20 years in the trades I was self-employed for 15 of those years serving East Texas in residential HVAC and home appliance repair.

A resident of Canton for 17 years, married, have 3 stepdaughters, one granddaughter and one adopted grandson Brandon. My wife is a business owner in Canton and my stepdaughters and grandkids were or are students of CISD.

My sports background started as a youth in Kansas where every summer my parents would sign my older brother and I up for all types of activities like; swim club, tennis, baseball and pee wee football. As I moved into Junior High I was introduced to greco roman wrestling, youth football and baseball. My love for wrestling and baseball would continue through my ninth grade year when my family moved to Athens.

Youth Sports Experience: I was a head coach for pee wee football with CYFCA for 4 seasons, an assistant coach for baseball for one season (so far), and president of the CYFCA Board of Directors for 4 years. As President of CYFCA I was a leader of a few changes to include cheerleading in the name of the Corporation so that sport could receive the same benefits as football, I worked to make CYFCA a non-profit Corporation in order to help with future growth by being able to apply for sports grants, federal grants or community grants or donations. I instituted Heads Up Tackling (was and still is the safest method of tackling in American Football). I worked with the previous high school athletic director to provide a Coach Clinic for the pee wee coaches in order to get an understanding of what pee wee needs to teach the athletes prior to getting to middle school football. I worked with CYFCA football commissioner to develop and institute a Coach Code of Conduct and curriculum for all teams which would provide a consistency in terminology and plays then progress as the athletes move up grade/team levels.

As a head coach for CYFCA I had a great staff who helped teach and lead our teams to two Super Bowl victories. I instituted the Heads Up Tackling method throughout my coaching seasons and stressed to the athletes the importance of keeping the head out of the tackle to reduce concussions. I did not play favoritism to any player. My grandson was on each team I coached and he was treated the same as all other players and was not put in any position because he was the coach's kid. I tried my best to be a positive role model to all kids involved with the organization and put athletes on my teams in positions that would best help the team succeed.

Favorite quote: "The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary" Vince Lombardi

Personal: I am not afraid to take risks. I am not afraid of failure. I make mistakes and I learn from those mistakes to be successful. I overthink things and have been told I think of things from start to failure. So I do not make decisions where I haven't thought of all outcomes. I don't believe in participation awards. I believe there is first, second, and third positions in some sports and only first place in other sports. I believe children grow at their own pace and kids are kids and I want kids to be a kids as long as they can. I am stern. I believe in structure when it comes to business, sport practice, games, or events. I am not a public speaker and do not possess the vocabulary or grammar structure of an English professor. I think outside the box and am open minded. I study and research when taking on a new task which is new to me. You will never hear me say I know more than anyone else. I don't like to run or swim. I do not like ladybugs.

Thank you for reading my profile. I'm sure I will add and edit over time but I hope some of this profile gives you some insight to who I am and hope you become part of the Canton Youth Sports family. You can always reach me by text, phone, or email if you ever have any questions.