George Lovera

My greatest coaching lessons came from spending three decades working directly with young people. I learned that every student is different. What looks like laziness, lack of motivation, poor organization, or even defiance on the surface often has something deeper underneath it. Sometimes a student lacks the skills. Sometimes they lack confidence. Sometimes they don’t know where to start. And sometimes they simply need someone who believes in them while holding them accountable.

For more than a decade, I also had the privilege of leading middle school students on educational trips to Italy. Taking young people thousands of miles from home and helping them navigate a different language, culture, environment, and expectations taught me a tremendous amount about leadership. It required preparation, flexibility, communication, patience, and the ability to remain calm when things didn’t go according to plan.

More importantly, I saw students grow when they were placed outside of their comfort zones. Students who might have been hesitant or dependent at home often discovered that they were capable of navigating new experiences, making decisions, solving problems, and becoming more independent. That experience reinforced one of my core beliefs as a coach: growth happens when we give young people the support and confidence to step outside of their comfort zone, not when we remove every challenge from their path.

Being a husband, father, grandfather, educator, mentor, and coach has also shaped the way I approach coaching. I’ve experienced firsthand the challenge of helping young people become independent while still providing the support and guidance they need. Those experiences taught me one of the most important lessons I bring to coaching: people don’t need someone to do life for them. They need someone who can help them learn how to do life for themselves.

Before becoming a coach, I spent 30 years as a middle school teacher. Education gave me the opportunity to work with thousands of young people at a critical stage of their development. Beyond the classroom, I served as a mentor, coached soccer, organized intramural programs, and led charitable and community initiatives.

Those experiences allowed me to develop skills in leadership, communication, motivation, relationship-building, conflict resolution, and helping young people overcome challenges. I earned my bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in teaching from Towson University.

Eventually, I realized that some of the most meaningful work I was doing wasn’t simply teaching academic content, it was helping students develop the life skills, confidence, and mindset they needed to navigate life. That realization led me into student and executive life-skills coaching.

I want to help young people become capable, confident, self-directed adults. One of the biggest challenges I see is that parents want their children to be successful, but sometimes the desire to help can unintentionally prevent young people from developing independence.

My goal is to help students develop the tools to eventually say: “I can figure this out.” Whether we’re working on time management, confidence, accountability, emotional intelligence, goal setting, motivation, self-talk, or preparing for life after high school, I’m ultimately helping students develop ownership of their own lives.

The impact I want to make isn’t simply helping a student get a better grade or complete a goal. It’s helping them become the person who can continue creating those results long after coaching ends.

My approach combines experience, relationship, accountability, and practical action. After 30 years in education, I understand that young people don’t respond well to being constantly told what they’re doing wrong. They respond when they feel heard, respected, challenged, and believed in.

I don’t want to simply give students answers. I want to help them develop the ability to think through problems, make decisions, take ownership, and learn from the results. My coaching is highly conversational and interactive. We take big challenges and turn them into manageable steps, then create accountability around those steps. I also believe in celebrating progress, not just outcomes.

The results I’m most proud of are when a student begins to take ownership:

• They start managing their own time
• They become more comfortable making decisions
• They recover from setbacks instead of shutting down
• They communicate more effectively with parents and teachers
• They begin believing they are capable of more
• They stop waiting for someone else to motivate them
• They start taking responsibility for their future


Ultimately, my goal is to coach myself out of the job by helping each client develop the skills and confidence to coach themselves.

I’m originally from the Philadelphia area, but I’ve called Columbia, Maryland, home for over 30 years, where my wife, Alisa, and I raised our family. Family is incredibly important to me. I’m a husband, father, and grandfather, and being a parent has given me a personal understanding of the challenges and opportunities that come with helping young people grow into independent adults.

My connection to Italy is also an important part of who I am. For more than a decade, I had the privilege of leading middle school students on educational trips to Italy. Those experiences allowed me to share my love of travel, history, culture, and learning while watching young people discover that they were capable of much more than they initially believed.

Outside of coaching, I enjoy spending time with my family, traveling, staying active, and being involved in my community. I’m also a big believer in gratitude, personal growth, and lifelong learning. My wife and I keep gratitude journals, which has become a simple but meaningful practice that helps us appreciate where we are while continuing to look toward where we want to go.

At the end of the day, the person behind the coach is pretty simple: I’m someone who enjoys people, believes in the potential of young people, and genuinely enjoys helping others discover what they are capable of.