By Matt Browning

More often than not coaches at the YMCA start volunteering because their son or daughter wants to play a particular sports. Once they start coaching, they start developing connections with players that continues long after the games end.

Getting involved in coaching at the YMCA was simple for Rashard Shields. It was family.

“I’ve been volunteer coaching at the YMCA since my son was 8,” Shields said. “I got into coaching because of my son.”

Coaching kids of any age has its perks and rewards, but Shields said seeing his players get improve from the first day of practice to the last day a has been some of the most rewarding moments.

“I enjoy being around the kids and watching them develop,” Shields said.

Fond memories can be watching a kid complete a fundamental in a game or see them grasp a concept that a coach had been teaching. But then there are those kids who are looking for that one moment of glory in game that did not come easy to them.

“One of my favorite moments is when this kid – we called him Lil’ Michael – score for the first time in two seasons,” Shields said.