Kirk is a physical education teacher at Downers Grove South High School. He has been teaching for over 30 years, and coached 17 of those years (12 of them as a head coach). Since his profession is one that promotes physical fitness and wellness, he keeps himself in shape in order to set a good example for the students he teaches. He believes that, "trying to encourage high school age students to make sound choices regarding exercise and diet becomes much more difficult if you cannot practice what you preach."
As an athlete, Kirk was a Division I National Champion, 3-Time All-American, 3-Time Hall of Fame Athlete, was selected in 2009 as #8 on NIU's Top 50 Huskies Athletes of All Time list, and is the father of 2 Division I scholarship athletes. For a more complete bio go here.
As a writer, Kirk submits articles for publication at Weplay.com for their Weplay Moms section Expert Advice For Sports Parents and at BleacherReport, a sports editorial website. Some of the articles on Weplay will be highlighted here on his ChicagoNow blog or reprinted from his ChicagoNow blog to BleacherReport.
Kirk is also the author of the forthcoming book Becoming a True Champion: Achieving Athletic Excellence From the Inside Out, (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012). Both the book and this blog are written for the purpose of making a difference in the loss of perspective and "winning at all costs" attitudes so prevalent at many levels of sports and youth sports today, to provide a better understanding on how true athletic success is attained (or success in anything for that matter), to help give athletes, parents, and coaches the tools needed for that success, and to demonstrate the life application and intrinsic value that is attainable through healthy sports experiences.
Kirk Mango
2 weeks, 1 day ago