By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
For Vivian Mata’utia, coaching youth football started with family. Three years ago, she brought her 5-year-old grandson to the Tac City Bolts because she wanted to be involved in his introduction to sports. What began as a way to support him eventually led Mata’utia onto the sidelines herself.
Today, Mata’utia serves as defensive coordinator for Tac City’s 8U team, working primarily with the defensive line. Her path into coaching wasn’t something she initially planned. She saw that the organization needed help, stepped in and gradually took on a larger role.
“I wanted to be proactive in his sports,” said Mata’utia. “I noticed that they had needed help, so I started helping, and then it just grew from there.”
What began with her grandson has since given Mata’utia an opportunity to influence a larger group of young athletes. For her, coaching is about more than teaching football. It’s also about the presence adults can provide during an important stage of their lives.
“The voice, the positive leadership, the humbling experience, and being positive role models for these boys is what keeps bringing me back each year,” said Mata’utia.
As a woman coaching youth football, Mata’utia believes she brings a different perspective to the field. She describes her approach as a balance between demanding discipline from her players and recognizing when they need compassion.
“I am a female on the team, so I do have a little bit of the compassion side, and I bring that to the field. Even though we’re pretty hard on the boys. I also bring a softer side and bring comfort,” said Mata’utia. “I could make them run three, four laps, but yet I’ll give them a hug at end, and I feel like the boys like that, and they need that.”
Although Mata’utia has watched football throughout her life, coaching has changed her relationship with the game. She says she has learned alongside the players she is helping teach.
“I love the sport, I have watched it my whole life, but being part of Tac City has brought a big learning experience, not just for myself, but as for the boys. But I’ve also grown and learned along with them,” said Mata’utia. “So, we are all learning. Not just the boys or not just myself, and that’s the part that I really love because I’m learning just as much as they are.”
That experience has also given Mata’utia an appreciation for a program culture that she says extends beyond football.
“It is the organization in itself that I love so much about Tac City,” said Mata’utia. “It’s very disciplined. It’s very family-oriented, and that’s the part I love.”
Mata’utia sees that family-oriented approach in the attention coaches give players away from the field. She and other members of the organization check on how players are doing in school, and the team is beginning a study hall to give players dedicated time for homework.
“I like being part of these boys’ lives on and off the field. We keep up with their school, their education, because they’re students first before athletes. So, we like to check in with them. We are starting a study group. We took one of the days of the week so that we can do study hall with the boys to work on homework,” said Mata’utia. “As I said, they are students first, and that’s the stuff I like. We like to keep it positive, to keep these boys off the street, and keep them in positive activities.”
That emphasis reflects what Mata’utia hopes the players carry with them long after their time in youth football ends. Success, from her perspective, isn’t limited to what happens on the field.
“I would like for them to become successful no matter what they choose their path to be,” said Mata’utia. “I want them to become very respectful, humble young men that I know they could be.”
Seeing that growth over the course of a season is one of the rewards Mata’utia finds in coaching. At the beginning, she gets to know new players and their personalities. By the end, she can look back at how much they have developed.
“The beginning is when you start learning the new boys, or you meet new boys, and then at the end, is when you’re able to reflect on the whole season and see how much they’ve grown,” said Mata’utia. “That to me is very humbling, and that’s the stuff I really enjoy. I like to see their progress from start to end.”
