HEWITT PUTS POWER OF FOCUS TO WORK WITH AT-RISK TEENS
Growing up in Northern Ireland, Les Hewitt fell in love with the game of soccer, and now, after a successful business career, he’s using the sport to help nurture immigrant youth in this city.
Hewitt worked as a lab technician before immigrating to Canada in 1974, and admits to being way out of his depth when he managed to get a position in the hematology laboratory at the former Calgary General Hospital.
Extra income came by way of working as a DJ at weddings and other events, but by 1980 Hewitt was ready for a change and joined a U.S. marketing company selling Best Line Products.
Hewitt was intrigued by training tapes the company’s vicepresident, Jim Rohn, provided and decided to start a company that would bring speakers to the city.
Achievers Canada Seminars was launched in 1983 and Hewitt was soon organizing monthly sessions. The business took another shift in 1995 when he began a group coaching with business owners.
By then an established speaker in Ireland, New Zealand and Australia, he worked with Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame, to publish his first book, The Power of Focus, which became a New York Times bestseller in its category. He has now published six books in the series, including editions aimed at women and university students.
Hewitt never lost his interest in soccer and wondered how he could use his business coaching skills to help youth.
He had the good fortune to meet Jean-Claude Munyezamu, a Rwandan who has coached immigrant youths in Calgary for seven years through his organization, Soccer Without Boundaries.
Hewitt and Jean-Claude now work together meeting refugee teens every Saturday morning in the Glenbrook community. Hewitt enjoys the sport but takes the time to empower disadvantaged youth with life skills.
The youths learn about the power of relationships, routine, resourcefulness, awareness and focus. Hewitt also led eight boys to start a business that would raise money to help fund their soccer and support charities.
The coaching has paid off for Juan Camargo, the Colombian boy the Hewitts adopted five years ago. He was invited to attend an elite soccer camp in Atlanta and was later asked to train with English Premier League club West Ham United.
NEWS AND NOTES
Calgary architecture firm McKinley Burkart was recognized with two gold awards and two silver certificates at the recent MASI Design Awards hosted by the Interior Designers of Alberta. The gold awards recognized work done for Maison Simons in the Lancaster Building. The others were for interiors designed for Undercard Boxing Studio, Entuitive and Blackbird Pub. Rohet Sharma, president of the board of the Risk Management Association’s Alberta chapter, will welcome attendees to its annual economic forum Nov. 1 at the Calgary Petroleum Club. Panel participants include Todd Hirsch, chief economist at ATB Financial; Glenn Hodgson, a senior fellow and former chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada, and Mary Moran, president of Calgary Economic Development.