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GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — Joint Task Force Guantanamo employs thousands of service members from all branches of service and many of them volunteer their talent and time to coach youth sports leagues at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.
The naval station's Moral, Welfare and Recreation program has many coaching opportunities for service members to get involved. Cooper Sports Complex offers a venue for naval station residents to embrace their competitive edge and participate in, or coach, sports programs.
The youth sports league offers four different sports for children to participate in; flag football, baseball, soccer and basketball. Service members volunteer their spare time to coach the sports that are offered. Each volunteer coach has his or her own reasons for stepping up to the plate and taking on the challenge.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Daniel J. Heller, Commissions Support Group's information technology office manager, volunteers to give back to the military and to fill an absence from his home life.
"The military has always treated my family well so I wanted to do something to give back to other families," Heller said. "I have kids of my own back home and it helps to fill that void."
Some service members volunteer for the love of a particular sport — working with and helping kids is an added perk.
"I really like kids; they are so fun and energetic," said Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Anastasia E. Teres, an analyst with the Joint Intelligence Group. "I really like playing soccer so [volunteering to coach] was perfect."
"I have been coaching youth soccer for a long time. I firmly believe sports are a great tool that can help kids stay out of trouble," said Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Johnny Eliassaint, an X-ray technician with the Joint Medical Group.
Volunteering to help these youth isn't all that time consuming. A couple of hours during the week for practice and about an hour for games, which are played twice a week, is all a volunteer coach needs to give to make a difference.
Working with younger children can be challenging at times.
"The toughest part about coaching youth sports is keeping the kids' attention," Heller said.
While coaching has its challenges, it also has enjoyable moments and provides a great learning experience for the participants.
"The kids get excited to see you," Teres said. "Just to see how excited they are when they win a game is great. It is nice to see them set a goal for themselves to win and then accomplish that goal."
"It all boils down to teamwork," said Air Force Senior Airman Edward J. Edwards with the Commissions Support Group transportation section.
Coaching with the youth sports league is a great opportunity to give back to the local community.
For more information about Joint Task Force Guantanamo, visit the Web site at www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil.
| Date Taken: | 11.13.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 12.01.2009 09:28 |
| Story ID: | 42200 |
| Location: | GUANTANAMO BAY, CU |
| Web Views: | 263 |
| Downloads: | 210 |
This work, Joint Task Force Guantanamo Service Members Volunteer to Coach Youth Sports, by TSgt Tiffany Black, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
