Each Friday afternoon during the summer, Ingersoll Stadium at Olympia High School came alive with 90 minutes of soccer drills, teamwork and leadership.
But it’s not your typical soccer camp where coaches run 100% of the drills and offer 100% of the feedback.
For over four years, the Olympia High School boys soccer team has hosted a free mentee program, where high school athletes serve as mentors for elementary and middle school soccer players. Coaches and high school athletes team up to help younger players fine tune their footwork, communication, passing and dribbling skills.
On the final day of the summer practice schedule on Friday, July 31, Olympia head coach Ty Johnson and assistant coach Richard Scott, along with five Bears soccer players, trained more than 20 youth soccer players. The program has helped produce a significant portion of Olympia’s boys soccer roster, and it offers high school players an opportunity to build leadership skills, give back to the community and potentially develop the next generation of Bears.
“This is a free opportunity to get better,” Johnson said. “The idea of it was to generate excitement about Olympia High School soccer. It’s exciting to see the amount of players that come out and the quality of players that come out.”
The Olympia coaches started the program by annually reaching out to the middle schools within Olympia School District that feed into the high school before extending the invitation to children of all ages around the state. Olympia’s boys soccer team also offers a similar spring break training program.
Johnson said the mentee program has met its initial goal of developing a strong interest in the high school team, with more than 100 players coming to Olympia boys soccer tryouts prior to this past spring season. Many of those in the tryouts were already familiar with the coaching staff and the team culture through their participation in the mentee program.
Students within the mentee program also serve as ball boys for the Bears varsity team, allowing them to observe the team culture up close. Olympia’s coaches and varsity players keep up with students’ soccer journeys by going to their club games when they’re allowed to under WIAA guidelines.
“To some of these kids, the high school players are like superstars,” Johnson said. “It’s a really fun opportunity for these players who come into Olympia to see the culture that we want and get to know the coaching staff before their freshman year. They’re more comfortable when they come in.”
Pyke Celedonia was once a mentee in the program as a middle schooler and is now one of the handful of mentors. He is entering his junior season coming off of an All-South Puget Sound League sophomore campaign. He will be one of the veterans on an Olympia team looking for its third consecutive state berth, and he credits his role as a mentor within the mentee program for the past two summers in his growth as a leader.
Celedonia recalls being grilled by Scott and Johnson during his time as a mentee in middle school, along with aspiring to be just like varsity mentors Calvin Boyal, Max Whitaker and Ryan Merchant when he was older.
“If your son or daughter is trying to have a good time with the sport and learn a lot of new things in a great community, I think that this is the perfect place to go,” Celedonia said. “I always have a lot of fun with it. I think you can be focused and have fun. I always try to bring a good energy, and I try to pass that on because I think it’s good to work hard and have fun.”
Most of the mentees come from Thurston County schools, but some have even traveled from Steilacoom or as far as Enumclaw to come to the camp each week. Katie Lofronco takes her 12-year-old son Nathaniel to Olympia from Steilacoom for each of the last two summers, and she has been blown away by how the coaches and mentors have helped his skills blossom on the pitch.
“It’s amazing. What’s really incredible is not just that the coaches here work on skill development but also gameplay development,” Lofranco said. “You can really see it and hear it on the field when they’re talking in the scrimmages and then the drills they do with the high school students. I think it really boosts my son’s confidence a lot, especially because the high school students here are so positive and supportive. It really speaks to their character that they’re out here in the summer on a Friday with these middle school and grade school boys. It’s really one of a kind.”
The coaching staff and the high school mentors treat each practice like it’s a varsity practice, harping on non-stop communication with teammates, scanning the field and knowing where to go with the ball before they receive it. At the same time, the high school players want to make the sport fun and exciting by helping each mentee understand the drills and feel like they’re an Olympia Bear.
“My intention here is not to win a state championship. I would love to, but my intention is to have players grow not just as students but as individuals,” Johnson said. “The older players get the opportunity to pass on what they’ve learned and pay it forward. We’re all putting in the effort to get the message out that you play soccer to have fun. It teaches you life skills and how to be not just a good teammate but a good person.”
