Volunteers are (mostly) hard to find

Some towns in the tri-state area are struggling to find parents to serve as volunteer coaches and leaders of youth organizations.

People there say the trend started years before the global pandemic began in 2020.

In other towns in the New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania region, there are plenty of volunteers and programs are rebounding as fears of COVID-19 recede.

”Back in our heyday, I would say around 2010, we had five to six fields in use during a rec soccer day. This year, we have about one to two fields going and with that has come fewer volunteers,” said Brad Gollinger, a member of the Monroe-Woodbury (N.Y.) Youth Soccer League Board.

”We have coaches who are coaching teams not because their kid is playing on the team but because they coached in the past and have been brought back because parents are not stepping up to coach their own kids,” said Gollinger, whose children have aged out of the program.

What is causing the dip in enrollment could be a combination of things, he said.

”In terms of COVID, we certainly had less players that first fall, and maybe once people stop doing something, it is harder to get them back into it. Maybe they are doing different things.”

Shannon Greiner has been involved in Girl Scouts in Vernon for more than a decade. She started a troop when her oldest daughter was in kindergarten and became a leader when her other daughter, now in seventh grade, joined.

”In that time, I became what is known as a service unit manager, meaning I am responsible for all 160 Girl Scouts in Vernon,” she said. “Every year, it is a struggle to get new volunteers. I am lucky to have a great group of women who help me, and we pick one another up if someone drops the ball.

”But with the younger parents, I see a lack of willingness to volunteer. My leaders and I have been doing this for so long that we can hand you a package and probably the supplies with everything you need to get a new troop up and running. It has gotten so bad this year that Girls Scouts of Northern New Jersey is running a pilot program for brand-new Daisy Troops. They are giving away supply boxes every month to run your meetings for you.”

Eileen Verboys, a Girl Scout leader in Warwick, N.Y., agrees that finding volunteers is always a challenge.

In fact, her husband and daughter coached a K-2 lacrosse team a couple of years ago even though their family had nobody playing on the team, she said. There simply weren’t any parents of the players who wanted to or knew how to coach lacrosse.

”I started in Girl Scouts here in Warwick about 12 years ago and the numbers seemed to have dipped a bit, but over the past two years, they are rebounding, and things are going well,” she said.

”It is always a struggle to find parent leaders. But for some parents, I must say it seems as though they use it as a babysitting service.”

In Pennsylvania’s Eastern Pike County Soccer League, the story is different.

James Scott says volunteer and player enrollments are sky high. He is in his fifth year with the recreational soccer league that he originally joined because his niece was playing.

”In Eastern Pike, we take players from mostly the areas surrounding Milford, Matamoras and Port Jervis. We have an abundance of volunteers and players. I would say our volunteers put in hundreds, if not thousands, of hours. Nothing would get done without them.”

Worry about concussions

Chris Sullivan, who coaches 8-U tackle football in Monroe, N.Y., said the numbers in the youth football league are way down during the past decade or so.

It may have something to do with concerns about concussions.

”For example, prior to that movie about NFL players and concussions several years back, our division with kids ages 5, 6 and 7 had 60 kids. This year - we don’t have 5-years-olds anymore - our division with kids ages 6, 7 and 8 has a total of 19 kids on a good day,” he said.

”I know baseball numbers are down and even lacrosse numbers in Monroe are down over the past three years because the youth lacrosse league we built has not been kept alive by the younger parents behind us.”

Sullivan noted that the quality of coaching also has fallen because it is easier to find parents who are quality coaches when there are 60 players compared with 19.

Conversely, the flag football league that Sullivan started several years ago now boasts close to 300 participants.

He has heard parents say they will wait until their children are well into their high school years before they allow them to play tackle football.

Michael Luongo of Woodbury, N.Y., tells a similar story. He started coaching youth sports when his children were younger and continues to coach middle school students in basketball and football although his children have aged out.

”I coach basketball with the Gym Rats over in Chester because they cannot find parents to coach,” he said. “I love coaching and I do my best to encourage kids and parents alike to come on out.

”The numbers in both basketball and in Monroe Woodbury, where I am back to coaching youth football, are way down from where they were when I was coaching my kids. I would say we have one-third fewer players coming out for football. And again, many of the coaches at the youth level do not have kids on a team.”

Video game competition

Kelly Cronin has been involved in Warwick (N.Y.) Youth Lacrosse since her daughter started playing at the age of 3. She has found some of the same challenges seen in other towns.

”Our girls league is thriving, but it will be interesting to see what happens next year as a lot of the coaches age out with their kids,” she said. “Luckily, the high school lacrosse coach has a young daughter who will be playing in our K-2 division so he will be a coach and probably keep things going, but I think there are many parents who would rather see the program fall apart than give any of their time.

”I think some coaches are driven away from youth sports because other parents are content letting their kids stay on video games and electronics.”

The struggle is real with the Monroe-Woodbury (N.Y.) Recreational Basketball League, according to one source who asked to remain anonymous.

”Since our league is so large, typically 600 players, we do have issues finding enough volunteers,” said the source, who has been involved in the youth league for several years. “We have been lucky to be able to run each season.

”In the past few years, we have had dads without players coach and also some young men who’d played in the league prior offer to coach a team. I don’t think COVID has played much of a role in lack of coaches. We didn’t play when schools were closed. In general, I would say we struggle and have to pull teeth to get all of our teams covered.”

Strong parental support

In Vernon, David Eustice is one of the many volunteers involved with the Vernon Instrumental Parent Group, which supports the Vernon Township High School Marching Band by building sets and helping out during competitions.

Eustace, whose daughter, a senior, plays saxophone, said the number of band participants and parent volunteers has remained relatively stable since COVID.

”As parent volunteers, a group of us get together a couple nights a week during the fall competition season and put together props to meet whatever the theme is,” he said.

”The band goes to most of the football games and participates in six or seven competitions in the fall. In my experience, which is over three years now, the parental support for the band has always been strong.”