WINDHAM SPORTS COMMUNITY
NOVEMBER 2007 VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH
Mike
Russell accepts his award with his 3rd/4th
grade Windham Youth Basketball Team
Mike Russell
is the November 2007 Windham Sports
Community Volunteer of the Month.
Mike Russell,
or Coach Mike as he is known throughout the
Windham and Westbrook communities, is a fun
loving youth sports coach who goes out of
his way to include as many young athletes as
possible with opportunities in youth sports.
The most
recent example of his commitment to
Windham’s youth came this fall when more
than 30 girls tried out for 14 positions on
the U12 girls travel soccer team. His
daughter Sam was chosen for the team along
with 13 other girls, leaving almost 20 girls
without a team to play on.
Windham Youth
Soccer began the search for a coach to field
a second team in this age group so that more
girls would have the opportunity to
participate in the fall travel league, which
typically offers more training, and higher
level of competition than rec. leagues.
As time passed
by and it became obvious that there was a
possibility that no one was going to take on
the coaching position, Coach Mike stepped
forward and volunteered his time to coach
the team despite the fact that his daughter
would be playing for the other team. This
almost certainly meant that he would miss a
majority of his daughter’s games throughout
the season as scheduling conflicts were
bound to occur on more often than not.
Coach Mike was
also involved with his son Justin’s U9
travel soccer team as an assistant coach.
While the quantity of time he had available
around his U12 girls team schedule may have
been limited, his knowledge and experience
to the other coaches were invaluable to the
players and the other two coaches.
Coach Mike
began coaching youth sports while in high
school, stepping up to coach a little league
team that was in search of a coach. He knew
immediately that this was something he
wanted to be involved with for a long time.
Nowadays he
pretty much coaches year round. He coaches
three seasons of soccer each year, in
addition to basketball and baseball. Two
years ago he was a coach of the Westbrook
Babe Ruth team that made it to the Babe Ruth
World Series.
Coach Mike
takes pride in being able to teach the
student athletes the finer points of each
sport. He has submersed himself in books,
videos and any other materials he can find
to learn as much as he can about each
sport.
Maybe the best
news for Windham’s youth is that Coach Mike
will be coaching for a long time to come
since his youngest child is only three and
hasn’t even began participating in Windham’s
sports programs yet.
Thanks again
for stepping up and coaching the 12U girls.
You did a great job with the girls... and we
recognize and appreciate your sacrifice. I
wish more people were involved as much as
you.
- Mark Tucker |
