KING COUNTY, Wash. — Patrick Lavin, chair of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Special Assault Unit, is leveraging his background as a former all-state football player to prevent the very crimes he prosecutes, teaching young athletes about respect and personal responsibility through a program that uses the language of sports to deliver life-changing lessons.
Lavin, who prosecutes felony sexual assaults against adults and physical and sexual abuse of children, has partnered with his former high school football coach to reach young people before they engage in harmful behavior. Rather than waiting to handle cases in the courtroom, he returns to athletic fields across Washington state with a preventive mission.
“I’m trying to put myself out of business,” Lavin said.
The prosecutor is part of a team that implements a program called Coaching Boys into Men. The initiative uses the trusted relationship between coaches and athletes to address critical issues including personal responsibility, respect, and understanding where aggression crosses the line.
Monte Kohler, who coached Lavin years ago when he was a student at O’Dea High School, remembers him as more than just a talented athlete.
“He was a great football player, a great student, but he was a great leader,” Kohler said. “When he spoke, we listened.”
The two have maintained a close relationship throughout Lavin’s life, and now work together using the Coaching Boys into Men program to reach the next generation.
The instruction focuses on teaching concepts that naturally align with team sports relationships.
“Teaching concepts like personal responsibility, respect, where aggression crosses the line — things that crossover very naturally with a healthy team relationship,” Lavin said.
Kohler emphasized the importance of the program’s mission at O’Dea.
“We believe in it at O’Dea. We really do. That idea of breaking that cycle of domestic violence is so important,” he said.
Lavin brings his prevention message to O’Dea and campuses across the state, targeting team leaders with the hope that their influence will spread throughout their peer groups.
“Even getting through to one is worth it, right. But the design of the program is that by getting through to the leaders, they’re influencing their peers,” he said.
His work is now earning special recognition from his alma mater, which is adding his name to its Wall of Honor.
For Lavin, whose life has been shaped by the values he learned at O’Dea, the honor is deeply meaningful.
“I think it’s one of the great honors of my life,” he said.
While Lavin once made headlines for his plays on the field, it is his commitment to helping others and preventing violence that has earned him a permanent place in O’Dea’s history.
트위터 공유: 스포츠로 배우는 존중과 평화 폭력 예방 교육자 킹 카운티 검사