New Warsaw boys soccer coach kicks off tenure with free 鈥楶lay Day鈥�
WARSAW, Ind. (BMV) — At the end of the 2019-2020 school year, long-time Warsaw Community High School boys soccer coach, Frank Courtois — who had been coaching in the Warsaw soccer arena for 24 years — decided to retire. Replacing someone with such a big presence is no easy task.
In December, the Tigers hired Ryan Burgher as the program鈥檚 new coach. Burgher is no stranger to leading a team to victory. While he often coaches soccer, he loves to bring joy and faith to the lives of people through all sports with the local non-profit organization AGAITAS.
This organization started in 2012 and offers all its camps to young athletes for free as a way to spread an understanding of healthy living and faith.
Burgher is involved with far more than just AGAITAS. For a significant time, he was also a coach for the Warsaw Wave boys travel soccer team. Additionally, he has coached a number of teams and sports at a local elementary school.
While coaching at the elementary level, Burgher didn鈥檛 want students who were cut from the team to become inactive, or perhaps give up on the sport. Instead, Burgher went a step further and volunteered his time to coach those players that didn鈥檛 make the school team for an intramural practice day. This allowed those students the chance to learn and grow into accomplished athletes that could make the team in coming years.
Stepping into his role as the next head coach at Warsaw Community High School seemed like a natural progression, and he brings along the creativity and passion that he has been putting into motion for years. With school right around the corner, Burgher has wanted to find a way to get kids back outside and playing.
Many families have remained at home during the COVID-19 pandemic with only their backyards for kids to play in, while others haven鈥檛 had the ability to get out and stay active at all. Seeking to give these kids a chance to be active, the idea of a 鈥淧lay Day鈥� came to fruition.
In addition to social media posts, emails were sent out to families as well as other soccer programs promoting a free-to-play tournament day for kids from kindergarten to eighth grade. A total of 87 children participated, allowing for teams in each age group to play three to four games.
Players had to register in advance for the Aug. 1 tournament, but there was no cost required to get out on the field for this fundraiser for the Warsaw boys soccer program.
By the end of the day, the Tigers were able to raise $1,000 to aid in the costs associated with high school soccer team events.
It was more than just raising money for the team, though. With an event this large, a number of volunteers would be needed to coach the teams and to referee each game. And yet, there were only two true volunteers in charge of handing out pinnies and assisting with registration as players arrived.
The volunteers who coached and refereed games during the tournament were 50 high school soccer athletes.
鈥淥ne of the main focuses of Warsaw men’s soccer is going to be giving back to the community through service,鈥� Burgher said. 鈥淭his was a way for our soccer players to serve the community. Although these guys may only be high school soccer players, to the kids coming they are professionals. We want to set an example and expectation that if you are going to play soccer at Warsaw, you are going to give back to the community, and this was just an example of more to come.鈥�
From experience to passion, Burgher is undoubtedly going to be an amazing high school coach. The success of the soccer 鈥淧lay Day鈥� event is just the first of many wins that he can add to his resume. And, if the community is really lucky, they鈥檒l see more events just like this in the future.
