Courtesy Photo | Sgt. 1st Class Tenney Noyes and Col. Hamilton Richards were both recognized as...... read more read more
AUGUSTA, Maine - National Guard members are often referred to as “citizen-soldiers” because they balance being a soldier responsible for reacting to threats to the nation and state, and a citizen who works and interacts in the communities they live in. Oftentimes, service members are recognized for their military contributions, but sometimes, it is what they do in their community that is more important.
Most recently, two full-time Maine Army National Guardsmen were recognized for work they do as high school wrestling coaches. Col. Hamilton Richards, and Sgt. 1st Class Tenney Noyes were each named Coach of the Year for their respective classes within the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference by a committee of their peers.
Richards is the head coach at Mount View High School in Thorndike, a Class B West school, and Noyes is the head coach for Skowhegan High School, a Class A school. These men strive to give the kids they work with paths, directions, and additional steps to success in life.
Chuck Karter, the athletic administrator at Mount View High School, had nothing but praise for Richards, who has been coaching at the school since 1994. Karter pointed to Richard’s strong sense of moral character, and uncanny ability to lead young people.
“Hamilton has the ability to manage a group of young men and women to get them to realize their ability to push themselves physically, mentally, and technically,” said Karter. “He has a great command presence that demands attention and respect, but is displayed in an unassuming and supportive demeanor. Don’t get me wrong, when it’s time to be heard over the crowd of if someone makes a knucklehead move, you’ll know it. He is clear and direct with expectations and always holds the kids to those standards.”
Richards grew up in the rural confines of Waldo County, in the farthest outreach known as Jackson. After leaving to study at Cedarville College (now Cedarville University) in Ohio, Richards was introduced to wrestling by some of his dorm mates. During visits back home he discovered that a program had been introduced to his old high school, and stepped in to help, bringing his collegiate experience with him.
As he became more involved, he wanted to give kids what he found to be lacking when he was growing up. Giving them positive role models, and showing them the opportunities and life outside of their rural area, and of course making them better wrestlers.
Noyes on the other hand wrestled throughout his time at Skowhegan High School, where he graduated in 2000. In college he fine tuned his technique, learned how to officiate, and helped out his old high school during his breaks from college. He worked as an assistant coach, eventually taking over as head coach after his coach retired.
Richards, who has been working with his program since the late 80's, has a strict background, not only coming from his time in the military, but also 15 years of working in the Department of Corrections, 11 of those years working with juvenile probation and parole.
“I realized I had a much more positive influence over my wrestlers compared to my caseloads, and a number of opportunities to compare apples to apples,” said Richards. “I see a fairly high rate of my wrestlers going on to college, joining the military or law enforcement. I have even had a few join the coaching ranks, although I am not sure exactly how much I had to do with it, hopefully at least a little.”
Noyes, who prefers to keep his military life separate from his work as a coach agreed that it was nice to be able to make a positive impact, and that it went both ways.
“Working with the kids, especially during the cold winter months, it’s great,” he said. “Wrestlers are a rare breed. These guys are great to work with, fun to hang out with. A great bunch of kids with good families, and a good community.”
Noyes, who is the operations noncommissioned officer for the 136th Engineer Company, makes it a point to not recruit from his wrestlers. He wants to keep the two missions separate, so that no one will ever question his intent. But it isn’t something he avoids either.
“They will ask me questions about the military, and I answer them,” he said. “I do not attempt to recruit. But, they are all young and they don’t understand it all just yet. They only know what they see on the news or in the movies, so I try to answer their questions. But that’s it.”
Noyes and Richards are both entrenched in their local communities, and this most recent award shows that they have worked hard and dedicated themselves to helping those around them. Their loyalty, duty and respect go much further than the uniforms they wear into work everyday, it shows up in the attitude and demeanor of every student they work with, at the end of every practice, and out there on the mats.
Richards said that adults need to remember that they are being watched, and their actions do make a difference, whether they are volunteering at the middle school dance, or the high school wrestling team, it all makes a difference.
“I think involved adults can make a difference with the following generations,” said Richards. “It shows that the community cares about young people, and as far as the military, there is more to it that just our jobs. We do what we do because we deeply care about our homeland, our nation. As a member of the National Guard, as opposed to active duty, we have roots. There is a place we are from and I believe some of our obligation as citizen soldiers is to that home community. Making it a better place and helping our neighbors’ and friends.”
| Date Taken: | 02.25.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 02.25.2014 07:51 |
| Story ID: | 121093 |
| Location: | AUGUSTA, ME, US |
| Hometown: | SKOWHEGAN, ME, US |
| Hometown: | THORNDIKE, ME, US |
| Web Views: | 282 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Local guardsmen serve as role models on and off duty, by SSG Angela Parady, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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