AUBURN — The Auburn-Lewiston YMCA has named Steve English as the 2014 William J. Hood Outstanding Volunteer Award recipient.

Steve and his wife Tammy have been involved in the YMCA Biddy Basketball program for six years. Their children, Ben, 14, and Sarah, 9, began playing Biddy Basketball as young children and Steve has been very active as a volunteer, officiating and coaching both travel teams and in-house teams.

Steve’s coaching style is one that makes coaching the game fun and meaningful for the kids. His focus is on helping kids improve their skills, being successful and building positive relationships that lead to good sportsmanship and teamwork.

While basketball is a game, the YMCA utilizes it and other sports programs to build character in youth, create an active lifestyle, develop friendships and offer family involvement opportunities. Steve reinforces the Y’s mission by emphasizing good sportsmanship, a respectful and caring attitude and giving the gift of time as an involved volunteer.

As the recipient of the award, English is thanked for his commitment to the community’s youth and for the positive impact he has made on the children in the Biddy Basketball program.

The YMCA’s Outstanding Volunteer Award is named for William J. Hood, who was an exemplary youth leader in the Auburn-Lewiston community. Hood played basketball at the YMCA as a youngster in the YMCA Church League through the 1940s. He continued to be committed to the YMCA’s basketball program as a coach, donor and mentor until he passed away in 1985.

Jeanne Hood, William Hood’s widow, has continued to support the program since and generously provides a basketball for every one of the first-year players in the YMCA Biddy Basketball Program to take home as their own. This year more than 90 first-year players received their own basketball.

For more information, contact Chris Shea, YMCA Sports and Camp Director, at 207-795-4095 or [email protected].