Welcome to our 'People of SYSA' series! This series is where we talk with players, coaches, administrators, parents, referees and volunteers from all across SYSA and learn a little bit about them and why they love being a part of Seattle Youth Soccer Association.
Years ago, the G05 Woodland Swarmettes made a pact to stay together, to come back year and year and keep playing on their recreational soccer team, no matter where life took them. The teamed originally formed in 2011 when the girls were just 5 years old. This past fall, they finished up their senior season and went out with a bang, winning the 2023 Girls U19 Washington Youth Soccer Recreational Cup title. Not only are the Swarmettes taking a state championship with them as they graduate and move forward, but they are also taking with them the memories and experiences that every kid playing recreational soccer hopes to take with them: friendship, teamwork, community and character.
The Woodland Swarmettes in December 2023, after winning the GU19 WYS Recreational Cup (photo courtesy of Rebecca Wynkoop)
Supporting this 12-year endeavor was volunteer coach Rebecca Wynkoop. Rebecca was recently named as one of 36 regional Coaches of the Year by Positive Coaching Alliance, the only coach in Washington state to receive this honor. We recently got the chance to sit down with Rebecca and talk about her time with the Woodland Swarmettes and what coaching means to her.
In it for each other
After losing in two separate SYSA City Tournament finals, the Swarmettes's State Cup win this past December was even sweeter. This was the first year that the team entered the State Cup tournament, Rebecca said. "The girls were really hungry. We worked super hard to stay together during Covid (we were doing clinics and practices) and then we came back after Covid fired up and ready to go. Somewhere around late elementary school or middle school, the girls had made a pact to stay together until they graduated high school. The pact was THEIR thing, not mine. The pact was so strong that when one of our players tore her ACL playing another sport, she was so devastated that she couldn't come back and play the final season that she went out of her way to do all the paperwork to get officially signed on to be an assistant coach so that she could be with the team."
Rebecca has been coaching the Swarmettes since they came together at age 5 to play U6 soccer for Woodland Soccer Club. "It was easy for me to sign up to coach my daughter's team at that time because I had already coached my son's team for 3 years, so I knew how things worked," said Rebecca. Because Woodland is a neighborhood club, all of the players lived very close to each other at that time which really helped create a strong base of community right from the start.
"This team was very much a neighborhood team, 3 of the girls still live very close to each other today."
Rebecca with her daughter (photo courtesy of Rebecca Wynkoop)
During the early years the team grew and changed. Players left to pursue new endeavors or focus on their main sport, and new players joined and helped the team expand into the group they have today. Of the original seven players on the U6 Woodland Swarmettes, four still remain and were a part of the group lifting the State Cup trophy in December. Along the way, it wasn't always easy to stay together. Some years were harder than others, particularity once they hit high school. "I remember a year when we had a roster of 22 and were only getting like 11 at each practice. I went to the girls and I said hey, I want this to be valuable to YOU, this isn't for me it's for YOU. What do you want to do? They decided to continue on, invoking their pact, and really committed to showing up for each other. They trusted each other that even if someone couldn't make it to practice or a game, they knew it must be for a really good reason and they had each others backs in this."
Cultivating a positive experience
As her time coaching the Woodland Swarmettes comes to a close, with this upcoming Spring Soccer season being their last, Rebecca has reflected back and really been able to hone in on what pieces helped make the whole experience so great. She says that one of the best things she did right from the beginning, that ended up being key, was that she made it a priority to set a good foundation of values and put them out there for everyone to see.
"My advice to other parents thinking about volunteer coaching, figure out what your values are and communicate that as early as possible to both players and parents."
For Rebecca, love of the game and having fun had to be the main priorities, no questions asked. "As a coach, if you are able and willing to communicate your values with families, that will help create an environment that is very easy to coach in. Early on with the Swarmettes, I was really intentional about communicating this message with parents: Play hard, run fast, have fun. I did this because as parents on the same team, we should all have the same goals. We want our kids to love the game and have fun and we needed to be able to support each other and have the expectations that we were all here for the same things."
When it comes to recreational soccer, it takes a whole group of people to make the season happen. And each role is of equal importance. "My message with the parents was always, let the coaches take care of the soccer and your role is to cheer them on. Everything about this is about that kid and we are just all here to soak it up and make it as positive as possible. That's it, that's our only goal." Setting this tone gave Rebecca direction and created a positive experience for everyone involved. It's much easier to navigate things when you have a foundation, a compass, and when everyone knows what you stand for up front.
In regards to keeping things positive on the coaching side, Rebecca's advice is to "find someone to coach with you, it makes so much of a difference because you don't feel like you are carrying the weight on your own. Having other parents help is something I would never hesitate to do, it makes coaching much more do-able and enjoyable, which overall makes it a more positive experience."
Growing together
"Playing in League Washington this final season really gave us the opportunity to blossom. The new environment gave the players more of a competitive fire and helped strengthen their commitment to each other. It gave them a space to see how far they had come, to see what they could do." Regardless of what was going on in their lives, Rebecca said this team showed up and played for each other all season. Example, the last game of the fall regular season they had their most competitive match - and it just so happened that they were down 3 players. Both of the girls who were rocks at center back were unable to be there, and the players that filled in absolutely played their hearts out - a direct example of how strongly these girls felt about the collective.
"These girls just show up and play for each other, not for themselves, but for each other, for the team."
From Rebecca's standpoint, this year was such a great culmination of the Swarmettes journey because this was the year that she didn't see herself as coaching and leading this team, this was the year that THEY led. This was the year that they took complete ownership, had each other backs, and just really leaned into and owned the unbreakable bond that they had been building amongst themselves all of these years.
"The most valuable part of this entire experience was being able to allow the girls to grow into a team that we were a part of together. I wasn't leading them this year, it was THEIR team this year. I was subbing and communicating yes, managing you might say, but to be able to let this be THEIR season, and for them to have so much success in that endeavor was just amazing to witness. They did this together, I was just there to bring the soccer balls. And that gives me so much joy."
Ironically, it seems as if Rebecca's Coach of the Year award came in a year that she did the least coaching, but a year that was the culmination of the amazing culture she had intentionally cultivated for over a decade that laid the groundwork for them to coach themselves to a championship. Which is very, very deserving of the Positive Coaching Alliance's recognition:
"Together we are making sure that all kids have access to the life-changing experiences of sports—the sense of pride and confidence in belonging, the courage to stretch and grow, the resilience to navigate life’s challenges, and the ambition to pursue their dreams." - Positive Coaching Alliance
Thank you Rebecca!
