August 30th, 2021 | Josh Adelman
Soldiers to Sidelines recently expanded our services to military spouses. Military Spouses sacrifice just as much for our country as the service member or veteran. They sacrifice their agency of where they get to live, which careers to pursue, and often have to manage the household during deployments. They are literally the coach of the family on the homefront.
So it is with tremendous anticipation that we honor our first Soldiers to Sidelines Military Spouse as our Coach of the Month, Amy Schweizer. Coach Schweizer has gone above and beyond to improve the lives of young athletes throughout the world.
Amy founded and directs a youth sports organization called Tiny Troops Soccer. Tiny Troops Soccer® is a developmental soccer program that focuses on teaching the fundamentals of the game as well as developing gross motor and social skills, body and spatial awareness, and the ability to thrive within a group setting. This is accomplished through fun games and activities that are specifically designed to support proper early childhood development.
Amy founded Tiny Troops Soccer because she loves the sport and understands how sports create a familiar environment for military children when they have to relocate constantly. Amy says, “As a spouse, I know how it is being in a new place with new people. As a mother to three young boys, I see how frequent relocations directly impact children. Through Tiny Troops Soccer and our 35 locations near military bases in the US and overseas, we strive to provide a familiar setting with familiar activities so our kids have a safe place to feel comfortable when they arrive at a new duty station.”
Coach Schweizer’s impact is far-reaching. So much so that it can be difficult to pinpoint just one outstanding success story. She reflects, “From coaching in Illinois to Okinawa, to Hawaii, and North Carolina, I have been honored to coach hundreds of players. As I tell my team of coaches, our players won’t remember who was on their “team” because of the frequency of change; however, they will always remember that they were a part of Tiny Troops. That rings true for me as well – I may not remember all of my players, but I will always remember the pride of seeing them progress and develop a love for the game – and THAT is special!”
We wanted to know why Amy decided to dedicate her life to coaching young soccer athletes and she responded. “I originally started coaching in high school, which is coincidentally the first time I ever touched a soccer ball (they didn’t have girls soccer in my town until then!). It happened to be the sport I loved the most and was best at. Having led children of different ages in various geographical locations has taught me the resiliency of children and the value and security a GOOD coach can bring to their lives.”
As glamorous and altruistic as running a global youth soccer organization may seem, it definitely comes with challenges. Challenges that Amy is committed to solving. She says the biggest difficulty she faces is, “The unfair expectations that parents place on kids. Sometimes, a parent expects their child to not only do tasks that they are simply not capable of doing but to always be happy doing them. All too often some forget that the goal of sports is having FUN while doing physical activity. I strive to get children to fall in love with play, with being outdoors, and hopefully with soccer! So I always encourage parents to let their child process their surroundings and the activities, and to have FUN with them! THAT will produce the players that they are striving to build. (I have learned to keep this in mind while watching my son as well!)”
Coach Amy Schweizer is deeply committed to improving the lives of coaches and young athletes through soccer throughout the world. Because of her enthusiastic dedication, we are honored to name Amy Schweizer the Soldiers to Sidelines Coach of the Month for August 2021!
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