Learning something new can be challenging, especially for young people joining athletic teams. A pair of new soccer coaches at the La Porte County Family YMCA know that challenge and are now eager to share their knowledge with the youngsters they will lead.
Todd Zeigner and Garrett Griggs are volunteer head coaches of the YMCA’s fourth and fifth grade fall soccer red team. Each has held a longtime passion for soccer and look forward to serving the community through their expertise.
“I really like the ability to teach the kids how to play,” said Zeigner, who has been in soccer since he was around that age as a goalie with the New Prairie Soccer Club - later competing at the same position in the Northwest Indiana Soccer Club on the La Porte U-19 team for five years and then at Tri-State University. “It’s great that I get to help teach these young players to play hard and be good sportsmen/ladies, help a player when they are down and offer them a hand up. Also to help them with their confidence levels with every practice or game.”
Griggs first played soccer in the Hobart “little league” before continuing to the travel club leagues and then onto middle and high school.
“I try and teach good sportsmanship and how to work as a team,” he said. “One cannot go through life without working with others. Kids need to learn how to stand on their own two feet and become a ‘star player,’ but will also need the help of the rest of the team in order to be successful. They cannot become the star by themselves.”
Both relish the opportunity to coach at the YMCA and encourage others with similar passions to do the same.
“It felt great to go find my old gear in closet, pull it out and remember the ‘good old days,’” Zeigner said about the moment he signed up to coach this fall’s red team. “Having this opportunity to help teach the younger generation so they too one day can look back and have that same feeling of remembering all the fun times and good coaches.”
“Having them (the kids) remembering back to those who took a few hours a week to teach them and continue the chain of being positive role models, I know I wouldn’t be who I am if I didn’t have the youth sports role models I had when I was growing up.”
As Griggs points out, volunteering with the YMCA has a two-sided advantage: benefiting the community and boosting the confidence of the volunteers.
“I really enjoy coaching because it shares my skills with others,” said Griggs, who was a fixture at the left defense position when he played. “It’s fun to do, it gets me out of the house and moving. I am able to play and coach at the same time and Todd and I are very heavily involved with the kids. We do not stand on the sidelines and blow whistles. We are out on the field running, dribbling, passing, and whatever else the practice requires us to do.”
Zeigner and Griggs ought to know a bit about working together, as Zeigner serves as a senior engineer and Griggs a project engineer for Vanair Manufacturing in Michigan City. The interaction at the soccer gig seems to take that working relationship a bit further.
“When teaching how to play a certain position we will both interact with the kids and show them what we are looking for,” Griggs said. “They seem to really respond to us playing alongside of them. I think they like learning from energetic involved coaches, which ultimately causes them to learn more and become better players.”
The La Porte YMCA has openings for soccer coaches for kids in kindergarten through third grade.
“If we look at the major social trends today and how it relates to volunteering, two points stand out: There isn’t enough time in our hectic lives to volunteer and we still want to be a part of something great,” said Elizabeth Sanchez, marketing director for the La Porte County Family YMCA. “I would like to encourage the people in the community to share your time and talent at the Y, and change a life or two, including your own. From helping with special events to coaching or mentoring, your skills and interests can make a difference here. At the Y, we’re with you. Every step of the way.”
For the K-1 team, a one hour commitment on Saturday is all that’s needed for games - with two coaches needed at this level.
Those interested in coaching the second and third graders, a one-hour a week practice and one-hour Saturday game would be required in a six-week session. This team’s first game is set for Saturday, September 13 at 8 a.m.
