{"id":285,"date":"2019-08-08T19:41:49","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T19:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/?p=285"},"modified":"2019-08-09T16:23:25","modified_gmt":"2019-08-09T16:23:25","slug":"leech-wins-tmc-june-trainer-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/other-news\/2019\/08\/08\/leech-wins-tmc-june-trainer-award\/285\/","title":{"rendered":"Leech wins TMC June trainer award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DES MOINES, Iowa<\/strong> \u2013 Anthony Leech twice has taken a leap of faith and he\u2019s discovered both times he really enjoys what was on the other side.

The latest leap has led Leech to being named TMC Trainer of the Month of June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
LEECH<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Before joining the Black and Chrome in 2003, the Panama City Beach, Fla., native was working a job where he made tires. Craving a change of scenery and a new challenge, he entered the world of over-the-road trucking. And then he got into training.

\u201cI was going through training at a CDL school when a recruiter for TMC visited,\u201d Leech said. \u201cThe company was just transitioning to Peterbilt trucks and they promised awesome home time, which were two appealing things for me.\u201d

So he took the leap. And then he was approached about training and after some initial trepidation made the move and now is in his sixth year of helping new drivers prepare for the road.

\u201cI was approached about it a couple of times, but I declined because I was nervous to try it out,\u201d he said. \u201cGetting to know someone new and showing them how TMC works has turned into another aspect of my job that I love.\u201d

Driver trainers are vital to the TMC training department. The Trainer of the Month is chosen based on their safety record and the safety performance of their trainees, the number of drivers trained and the retention percentage of those drivers. 

Leech understands the challenges of transitioning to OTR driving and he focuses on the basics with his trainees, many of whom are coming into the industry from other pursuits.

\u201cMost guys get in the truck and doubt themselves,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s my job to encourage them to keep going and keep learning.

\u201cYou have to be aware of your surroundings and make sure you\u2019re safe doing whatever it is you\u2019re doing. As long as you keep the wheels spinning safely, you\u2019ll find success.\u201d

The camaraderie out on the road is something that\u2019s important to Leech. He\u2019s been the best man in weddings of two drivers he has trained. It\u2019s those relationships that are among the many reasons he plans to stick around.

\u201cI plan on retiring with TMC,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DES MOINES, Iowa \u2013 Anthony Leech twice has taken a leap of faith and he\u2019s discovered both times he really enjoys what was on the other side.The latest leap has led Leech to being named…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,142,84],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions\/301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}