It’s nearing sunset, and at Ralph Dunlap Elementary School in Orcutt, a team of 12-year-olds is gathered to practice headers and kicks at the school’s soccer field.
The boys’ coach, Christina Vogel, demonstrates proper footing techniques and shouts instructions, prodding the players to move the ball around quickly and accurately.
A 19-year-old student at Allan Hancock College, Vogel has been coaching soccer since she was just 14. She played for Righetti High School and club team Atlético Madrid until a knee injury put her own playing career on the backburner.
Between her classes and job, Vogel still finds time to devote about 10 hours per week to her team and even spends some of her own money on soccer equipment—all for no compensation except the satisfaction of teaching her players the game of soccer.
“It’s an investment,” Vogel said. “I’m only working part time, so there’s money I’m losing out on when I could be working. But I really enjoy it. It’s so satisfying just seeing the kids improve. That’s the most rewarding part.”
Vogel is one of about 120 volunteer coaches the Orcutt United Soccer League depends on to teach its 1,200 youth players, who range in age from 4 to 19.
According the league’s director of coaches, Paul Ollice, finding people with enough time and patience to do what it takes to run a team isn’t always easy.
The league has numerous conditions it looks for in a coach, and on registration days, Ollice sets up a table and recruits. About a quarter of the league’s coaches sign up at the door, but the league is always on the lookout for more volunteers.
“With the economy and people working longer hours or second jobs, it’s getting tougher to find people,” Ollice said.
Being a coach requires a fair amount of commitment. On average, coaches hold twice-weekly regular practices and spend a total of 10 hours per week in on-field preparation, scheduling, games, and making calls to other parents.
Many are parents and coach because they love their children, Ollice said, and the rewards are more than worth the effort.
“The kids are benefiting, and we’re teaching the game of soccer,” he said.
Though his own children are grown, Ollice still coaches a team of 12-year-old boys. The biggest challenge, he said, is mixing the drills up to keep them interested and making sure they don’t get bored.
“I played soccer, and I enjoyed the game,” Ollice said. “I like to be outside and active. I’m anti video games, so anything I can do to get the kids out there is good.”
City sports leagues are equally dependent on volunteers. According to Eduardo Marquez, sports supervisor for the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department, more than 100 volunteer coaches are needed each year—not to mention team moms, who generally set up schedules and practices.
Marquez said many volunteers—90-percent are parents of players—commit for several years. Some even follow what he calls the annual “sports cycle,” moving from basketball, to baseball, to soccer, and even volleyball. He called them “the core of all of our programs.”
“A lot of what we do here at the city wouldn’t be possible without our volunteers,” Marquez said. ”We rely heavily on our coaches. If we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t be able to provide what we provide.”
According to Santa Maria Valley Boys and Girls Club Sports Director Ernie Cuevas, while coaching experience isn’t necessary, availability certainly is. With the organization’s youth basketball season stretching for almost four months—and requiring about three hours of practice each week, plus games—the work involved in keeping a team on the same page adds up.
“We look for parents who have the time,” Cuevas said. “With the younger kids, coaching experience doesn’t matter as much. They’re teaching mainly just the basic skills.”
There are 34 youth basketball teams in Santa Maria and 48 in Orcutt, Cuevas said, none of which would be possible without the help of volunteer coaches.
Similar to most volunteers, Orcutt Boys and Girls Club youth basketball coach David Sauer got involved in coaching when his children were young and continued on each season as they grew.
Despite having to recently increase his hours at his job with Plains Exploration and Production Company, Sauer still puts in about five hours a week teaching 10-year-olds the fundamentals of basketball: dribbling, shooting, and running basic plays like the pick and roll.
“Coaching the younger kids is just a joy to me,” Sauer said. “I really like to see them get better every single year.”
According to Sauer, father of Righetti High School senior Nick Sauer, the work isn’t without its challenges. Getting time in a gym can be difficult, he said, and sometimes it can be tough to keep his players motivated.
“I teach them about winning and losing, and I teach them that it’s OK to win,” Sauer said. “A lot of them are told that everyone’s a winner, but to really teach a kid to win will help them later on in life when they’re trying to get a job.”
For those coaches who aren’t yet parents, like Orcutt United Soccer League’s Vogel, volunteering serves as both a résumé builder and as a valuable life experience. Forced to prove her own maturity to parents of other children, Vogel has used her own youth as an advantage in her mentoring role.
“I like hanging out with the kids,” Vogel said. “I have to tell them I’m not just your friend, I’m your coach. Being close in age with them, the kids can relate to me.
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas is forced to prove his maturity every day in the office. Contact him at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 14-21, 2010.
