Mountie Soccer Players Turn Coaches To Help Area Youth Soccer League

MANSFIELD -- Mansfield University women’s soccer players Desiree Boris, Kim Pachuta, Anita Valerio and Vanessa Wengen had to stay late after practice last Tuesday evening.

While their teammates got to leave to go eat and enjoy some rare off time after a full day of classes followed by two hours of practice, Boris, Pachuta, Valerio and Wengen were setting up practice cones and soccer balls to get ready for another hour of workouts.

The women weren’t being punished because they did something wrong. They were there because they wanted to do something right for young soccer players participating in Mansfield Area Recreational Association (MARA) league.

In addition to being standouts on the Mountaineer women’s soccer team, all four had also volunteered their limited free time to serve as volunteer MARA coaches.

Practice isn’t usually fun at this time of the year. The players have been at it for almost six straight weeks and the season isn’t even half over yet.

But Tuesday night’s 6:30 pm practice was a little different. Unlike their earlier practice with their Mountaineer teammates, the now MARA coaches were having fun with their players. Laughs and giggles among the six-year-old players were as common as their coaches’ praises of “good job” and “nice work.”

“Coach Dempsey was telling us how they were having some difficulty finding enough people with soccer backgrounds to serve as MARA coaches,” explains Wengen, a senior elementary education major from Hunlock Creek, PA, about her move from player to coach. “A couple of us thought it would be fun. We love soccer and thought maybe we could impart that love of the game to young boys and girls here.”

The players probably get some of that desire to help from their coach, Tim Dempsey. Now in his fifth year at Mansfield, Dempsey and MARA soccer co-director Robin Regester have been a major force in improving and enhancing the opportunity to play and quality of instruction for MARA and other youth organizations.

“I was a little surprised when all four volunteered,” said Dempsey, who also volunteers to coach a MARA soccer team. “But just a little. We have some great people on our team and its rewarding for me to be around them. We practice or play six days during the week and usually have Sunday off. That’s the day MARA plays its games, so really, those four have no days off during the season, and that’s a lot to ask of anybody.”

No one appreciates that effort as much as the MARA players -- especially their parents. In just one season, the teams coached by the players have turned into the envy of the league.

“I think it’s great,” said Charlene Creamer, who was watching her six-year-old son Joe practice on Kim Pachuta and Anita Valerio’s team. “The kids actually listen to them. Maybe because they’re not anyone’s parents, but probably because they actually know soccer and make it fun. There are a lot of parents who wish their kids were on this team.”

“We’re so spoiled,” added Francis Craig, whose six-year-old daughter Molly is also on the team. “Molly just loves her coaches and thinks they’re the best players in the world. She’s been asking us to take her to some of the Mountaineers’ games so she can see her coaches play and we are going to do that every chance we get.”

While the players and their parents feel special because they have the Mountaineers’ players as coaches, the players themselves are getting just as much, if not more, of a reward from their players.

“This has been so cool,” said junior Desiree Boris from Wilkes-Barre, who became the Mountaineers first ever All-PSAC soccer selection last season. “I was in Subway the other day and some of my players saw me and came over and asked where Coach Vanessa was. They just seem to enjoy playing so much that I really think we’re having a positive impact on them and that is really, really cool.”