THOMASVILLE — When the topic “leadership, relationship building and teamwork” came up for a City of Thomasville lunch and learn event, one name jumped out for multiple people in the room.

Kiel Angry.

The Thomasville middle school football and basketball coach will be speaking June 16 at the city lunch about the three topics.

Though the session will last 45 minutes, Angry said he already warned organizers he won’t need all that time.

“Grown ups are just like kids in so many ways they just make smarter decisions,” he said.

What Angry has to say will be easy to soak in. The coach hasn’t decided exactly what he’ll talk about, but said he already knows one specific directive.

There’s a certain issue he tells everyone when they ask the coach about leadership and how he gets his sixth through eighth graders to do what he says as a coach.

“Something that I tell everybody when they ask how I lead these kids and the do so well is I always get to know a kid personally before I start coaching,” said Angry, who has his basketball team out playing summer ball against higher competition this June.

He said even if he has other things to do and needs to spend time on other projects, he takes the time to know his players and kids.

“Before I can lead and direct a person, I need to know exactly what kind of person it is,” Angry said, giving examples such as what they like and value in life.

While coaching his middle school team against junior varsity competition, Angry has also gotten middle school football practices underway this week.