Making his debut as Coach of the Week, Zach Staszkow, is a dedicated baseball coach and educator for the State of Hawaii Department of Education. He also works at Waialua High and Intermediate School, making him more than a deserving candidate of this Weplay youth coaching honor.

Zach coaches Team Diesel Mustang and Team Diesel Pinto/Mililani of the Hawaii/Central Oahu Youth Baseball League. Both teams have had very successful seasons.

Zach has been coaching baseball for the past five years and also has experience coaching junior varsity girls basketball and varsity football.

“I was always active in athletics as a kid and when I was younger I thought that would be my career, until I figured out all those that coached me didn’t get paid,” Zach says. “When I started working at a high school, it was natural to coach the students that I worked with.”

Seeing the players on his team improve year after year is what keeps Zach committed to coaching. Also, when other coaches and baseball fans comment on how disciplined his players are, it makes all the time and effort Zach puts into coaching worth it.

Now, that Zach has two sons, 10-year-old, Zane and 7-year-old, Zen, with his wife, Inez Suehisa, he enjoys coaching his own kids and watching them compete.

Coach Zach Staszkow’s Three Keys To Coaching Success:

1. Have organized practices and routines. 

2. Empower your assistant coaches and those that help you. 

3. Teach, reteach and reteach, before you scold.

Coach Zach’s thoughts on Weplay:

The calendar tool is the best.  Coaching two teams (Team Diesel Pinto and Team Diesel Mustang) the calendar really helps me keep track of practice days and locations which is key.  I also tell my parents to check weplay before they contact me because I always update weplay. Having parents who love to take and upload pictures is good for the families too.  

Click here to nominate the next Coach of the Week!

There are many challenges in playing a team sport. Players and coaches have to work together to be successful. A true test of a solid team is how the team reacts when someone makes a mistake. Do the other players and coaches help pump that player back up or let them waste the game away upset about the mistake they just made?

Weplay Coach of the Week, Bob Ward, and his Michigan Prowlers girls 8th grade, Dewitt, Laingsburg and Haslett team have a bond crucial to team sports. They support one another through the good games and the difficult games. The Michigan Prowlers players and coaches have a unique way of showing that they have each others’ backs.

“...when we make an error on the court, the girls yell out ‘flush it’ that’s when you mimic flushing and that play is gone,” Coach Bob says, “The girls have told me to ‘flush it’ on occasion when I have made a coaching error.”

Coach Bob began coaching basketball because his daughter, Summer, asked him to be her coach. He has been coaching the majority of the girls on the Michigan Prowlers for about five years.

“I coach because I love watching my daughter progress in sports and because the friends and the girls I coach mean so much to me,” Coach Bob says. “I have made life long friends.”

The best thing about coaching for Bob, is watching his players progress to new levels over the years. He also enjoys seeing his players develop lasting friendships with their teammates.

Coach Bob and his wife of 22 years and team manager of the Michigan Prowlers, September, have three daughters, Ashley, 20, Taylor, 15, and Summer, 13.

When the Ward family is not spending time on the court, they vacation at their place in Clare, MI and also spend time with Coach Bob’s parents.

“Poppy and Grammy love seeing their granddaughters and all the girls that we bring up north,” he says. “Our basketball group is just a big extended family and we do so much together outside of basketball. I believe that makes us a closer team.”

Coach Bob Ward’s Three Keys to Coaching Success:

1. Practice hard/play hard

2. Surround yourself with a great assistant coach, great manager, great stat/ score keeper and awesome parents.

3. HAVE FUN!

Coach Bob’s Thought’s on Weplay:

 I really like the upcoming events tool.

Click here to nominate the next Coach of the Week!

People often find themselves drawn to a certain sport. Maybe it’s the fast-paced play, the roar of the fans, the power and skill of the athletes or the team camaraderie.

Weplay’s Coach of the Week, Danny Bennett, was immediately drawn to hockey at a young age. He founded PASI Hockey in 2002 and coaches for the Belle Tire organization working with the 2003 and 2000 AAA divisions. Danny sets up, sponsors and coaches the senior team which happens to be stocked with Division 1 and former college players.

“I have loved hockey my whole life and just wanted to be part of it,” Danny says. “The kids are great and so is the game.”

Danny says one of his best experiences as a coach came when his PASI team won two state championships and one national championship.

Every coach has those moments that truly make coaching a passion and worthwhile. For Danny, those priceless moments are the player-coach relationships.

“I also enjoy working with the kids and seeing them grow into young men,” Danny says. “One of the best things is when they see you years later and they never forget you.”

Outside of being a hockey coach and playing hockey, Danny owns his own company called PASI which stands for: Professional Abatement Services Inc. PASI is a full union asbestos abatement contractor.

“Durning the day this keeps me busy and when 4 p.m. comes around it’s back to hockey,” Danny explains.

Danny loves to get out on the ice and he has two kids who have followed in their father’s footsteps.

Coach Danny Bennett’s Keys For Coaching Success:

1. Just make sure they are having fun playing the game.

2. Make sure you are as fair as possible with ice times.

3. Make sure you have a coach that can communicate well with the kids and the parents.

  Danny’s thoughts on Weplay:

Weplay has been a great site for me. I use it for all my teams. Belle Tire teams, select teams in the summer and spring, and even my senior teams have a sight. You can post sponsors, take team polls etc. Great job!

Click here to nominate the next Coach of the Week!

Captivated by the way the players of Manchester United moved the soccer ball down the field, Weplay’s Coach of the Week, Earl Gardner, quickly realized soccer was the sport for him after watching only one game.

Throughout his soccer career, Earl has been a part of many different teams spanning the globe. He began kicking the soccer ball around the schoolyard and eventually found his way to the British (Royal) Air Force team and continued to sharpen his skills by playing soccer for teams in England, Wales and Germany.

Making the shift from player to coach was a smooth transition for Earl.

“My love of the game and experience in playing naturally made me want to get more involved in the coaching side of the things,” Earl says. “I think once you get involved with the other young players, their enthusiasm and drive to learn how to play the game naturally makes you want to stick with it and to try to get the best out of each and every player on your team.”

When Earl’s son showed an affinity for the game of soccer at age four, Earl decided he would become a Pee-Wee soccer coach. Earl has since coached recreational teams, travel soccer teams and he currently coaches the Lee County Strikers Under 14 Boys team for the Fort Myers Untied Soccer Association League in Fort Myers, FL.

The Lee County Strikers Under 14 Boys have had many successful games and most recently were runner up in the U14 Boys D3 South Division of the United Soccer Association League in Florida. The team also earned runner up in the Silver Division of the Naples Sharks Shootout tournament in Naples at the beginning of the season and clinched the U14 Boys Championship at the Braden River Halloween Havoc tournament in Lakewood Ranch, FL.

“We hope to do well...and to finish off the season with a good showing at the Florida Region C tournament,” Earl says.

Exceptional athletes put in a lot of hard work and dedication to master their craft as do the coaches who teach the athletes. While attempting to bring out the best in each player, some coaches are rewarded by discovering new ways and techniques to become better at what they do. These rewards make coaching more meaningful and Earl recalls one experience in particular.

One of Earl’s players began last season as an underdog, underestimated and overlooked as team captain, but with tremendous effort the player showed his coach and his team that this year he is team captain material. Earl claims he was wrong to underestimate this player.

“I think that particular player has taught me that you are never too old or too experienced to admit you were wrong,” Earl says. “So this new learning experience was a good one for me.”

Drawing from a plethora of soccer memories, Earl says one of his best experiences was when a team he was coaching ran into an unfortunate situation with unlucky player injuries and he was forced to send in the reserve goalkeeper as an emergency striker.

“Having never even practiced in that position he ended up scoring the winning goal with the last kick of the game,” Earl says. “And to see him share that moment of glory with his teammates was really an amazing experience for me, which will stay in my mind forever.”

When Earl is not teaching his team how to bend it like Beckham, he runs a web development company called Alchemy Digital Media in Fort Myers. His company designs websites for businesses, but Earl especially enjoys designing sites for sports clubs like the Lee County Strikers.

Earl says he has the best wife and kids anyone could ask for. He is married to Rosi and has two children, Callum, 14, and Danielle, 22. In his spare time he plays online chess and watches English Premier League games on TV.

“I have supported Manchester United since watching my first ever game of soccer on TV back in 1968 - The European Cup Final,” Earl says. “I was a Manchester United season ticket holder back in the 1980's so I got to see them play every other week at Old Trafford.”

Coach Earl Gardner’s Three Keys For Success:

1. Never forget that this is about the kids we coach and not our own egos.

2. Try to improve your knowledge by watching more experienced coaches.

3. Never coach the fun out of the game for the kids. It's great to be successful, it is even greater for the kids to love the game and have fun while they are playing it.

Earl’s Thoughts on Weplay:

Weplay saves me and our team manager so much time by being able to set up our game times early in the season and schedule the reminders to go out automatically. As the great Ron Popeil once said --"You can set it and forget it!"

Click here to nominate the next Coach of the Week!

Mold your players into fundamentally sound athletes at a young age and it will pay off. Learning how to play a sport is just like learning algebra; you need to know how to add and subtract before you can solve linear equations, just like you need to know how to shoot a basket before you can play basketball. After all, Lisa Leslie was not able to become an WNBA star without learning the fundamentals of the game.

Teaching youth athletes the proper fundamentals is what this week’s Coach of the Week, Jason Van Egeren, stresses most when coaching his basketball players on the Wrightstown Full Court Club 4th Grade Girls Team.

Jason says he prides himself on knowing his players have been taught the fundamentals of the game which can be proven by his team’s excellent ball-handling skills and minimal turnovers. He is also proud of his team’s honest ethics.

“A few games ago we were in-bounding the basketball and my in-bounder stepped over the baseline before she passed the ball and then she stopped and handed the ball to the ref who had no idea why she was giving him the ball.  When he asked her she said, ‘I stepped on the line before I passed it in!’ That was an awesome feeling,” Jason remembers.

Jason has spent over 10 years coaching youth sports and says he enjoys working with kids and seeing them progress every practice. Watching his athletes improve upon the skills they have learned at basketball practice and successfully use them in games as well as in life situations is Jason’s best experience as a coach.

“It is very gratifying to watch them mature and gain experience as they grow, and then eventually watch them play high school sports and know that I was a part of their beginning to sports,” Jason says.

The Wrightstown Full Court Club 4th Grade Girls Team of Wrightstown, WI currently holds a 10-6 on the season.

“We have one first place, two second places, one third place and then we lost a consolation game,” Jason says.  “We are a small school and typically we have to play larger schools that usually have three or four times the kids in their high schools than we do.  So I always let the girls know that when they get older we will not have to play these larger schools but if they can prove that they can be competitive with them that is a very positive moment and it will only make them better in the long run.” 

The Wrightstown Full Court Club players and Coach Jason use Weplay to share game memories and to check out new team information and recent picture uploads.

Jason is a construction salesman and enjoys spending time with his wife, Jodi, son, Austin and two daughters, Dayna and Sydney. He also likes to play and watch sports.

Coach Jason Van Egeren’s Three Keys to Success:

1. Walk through everything with the girls over and over and as soon as you think they have it figured out, do it a few more times! 

2. Get used to them making mistakes, lots of them.

3. I have had great success with stopping a practice when someone does something wrong and walking through the play or the drill with the girls until they get it right.

Click here to nominate the next Coach of the Week!