Rebecca Suprun
It started as a favour for some friends and ended with years of coaching under her belt.
Rebecca Suprun has been a well-known name in the Simcoe Soccer world for some time now and there doesn’t appear to be an end date in sight.
Suprun’s dedication to sparking the love of the sport in youth is the reason why she is one of 9 coaches who make up todayʼs Hooray for Coaches Day event brought to you by White Horse Family Entertainment Centre.
Suprun started off coaching when she herself was a high school student – helping to teach gymnastics.
It wasn’t until she was in college when a group of mom’s reached out to her that her soccer coaching career began.
They needed coaches as these moms signed up to help even though they didn’t know a thing about the sport.
Suprun has always had a passion for soccer and agreed to help out and has been a staple on the field ever since.
She credits her commitment to staying on year after year to an amazing soccer coach that she had – David Walker.
She said coached with the same group of girls over 20-years, building a strong bond, and she wanted to help make that connection with young people as well.
In fact, Walker regularly helps her coach to this day.
She said every year there is something she is proud of – a player on a team, a well- made goal, a big save – and she has yet to have a year where she hasn’t felt pride in her players and team.
With that, she said her biggest role out there is to get the most out of the players as some of them are simply there because their parents insisted they play a sport and not because they want to.?
While Suprun agrees kids need to be out there playing the game, she says it can prove challenging getting those kids into the right headspace every game.
It can be a challenge, but she tries to bring out the best in each player every time.
Another struggle Suprun has noticed is certain players will be offered money from their parents, caregiver, or grandparents if they get a goal.
While also done with good intentions, Suprun says she often needs to change the mindset of those players to get them to think about the team and not about getting themselves a goal to get cash.
Supruns passion is still very much alive in the sport, she is especially happy that this year both her girls will be in the same age bracket so they will be on the same team, and plans on staying on coaching kids for many years ahead.
Her full interview is below:
