Albany coaches help keep NYSP going

ALBANY — A coach’s work is hardly ever done. When they’re not grinding out the regular season of their respective sports, coaches are often putting in the work needed during the offseason to ensure their teams are fully prepared for the next season and, frequently, the next level.

Several Albany-area coaches have taken on the responsibility of preparing not just their own athletes, but children in the community as well. Among the volunteers at the National Youth Sports Program, held on the campus of Albany State University, are several coaches from the Dougherty County School system. Their dedication to serving kids in the community, along with ASU’s financial support, has helped the program reach its 42nd year, according to the program’s liaison officer, Jesse Massey.

“We’ve got a few coaches from the [school] system that come back and realize it’s not about the money,” he said. “Of course, you’re going to get paid, but you’re not going to get paid like you were working your regular job. It’s like a commitment, in my opinion, for that coach to come out and they could be doing something else.”

One such volunteer is Exzandra Wilson, an assistant girls basketball coach at Dougherty High. She, along with her 10-year-old twin boys, are in their second year at the camp. Wilson said being able to have an impact on the youths in the area makes sacrificing part of her summer well worth it.

“I enjoy working with kids,” she said. “I feel that starting early and guiding them early, the end results will be positive. I just like working with them, changing their lives and giving them a different mindset, and just giving them other options in life besides the world that they see.”

Wilson said she’s learned how to navigate the program and has a better understanding of the kids she’s serving as well as how to reach them, which in turn helps her and others who work in the school district become better at their full-time jobs during the school year.

“The things that [Massey] is saying, we apply them every morning, because we have a meeting,” she said. “We have that meeting, and you have to apply that throughout the day. That makes you a better person throughout the day, and by the end of this program you will see how much you have grown as an individual.”

While he would be considered a veteran in the program, ASU head volleyball and women’s basketball coach Robert Skinner said that after 27 years, he’s still able to learn something new every year.

“I learn something each and every day. There’s always different challenges; there’s always something to learn,” he said. “If it gets to a point where I’m not learning, I think it’s time for me to stop. Each day is something new. The kids bring new and different surprises, and we just take it one step at a time.”

Before the merger of Albany State with two-year Darton State College, Skinner coached three sports and was used to the nonstop grind that came with it. He said he considers volunteering at the camp another one of his responsibilities.

“It’s the kids. You really want the kids in the community to have a summer that they can enjoy and that they can find beneficial and also educational,” he said. “So you find the energy, whatever it may take, and get out here and do essentially what you’ve been doing each and every day throughout the year.”

The camp has withstood the test of time thus far, and Massey said his hope is to continue to take care of those who have given so much to see the program continue.

“I hope that we continue to keep the program, and I hope that administration looks at it and says, ‘Let’s pay people quality money to get them to help produce quality kids,’” he said.