By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Chris Solo, offensive line coach of the Royal T 14U team, and his wife, Traci Solo, the team mom, have truly become a football family. They dedicate their time and energy to the Royal T youth football organization while also having the special opportunity to coach their son, Azariah ‘A.Z.’ Solo.
“This is my first year with Royal T, but I have been coaching for a while,” said Chris. “I coached a few years in Hawaii, and this will now be my fifth year here in Washington. I just wanted to share my knowledge to all these kids, and it is just something that I love to do. I love working with kids.”
As a true Royal T family, Traci said that the journey with her husband and son through youth football has been a rollercoaster of emotions — but above all, it’s been an incredibly fun and rewarding experience.
“Oh yeah, it has been fun,” said Traci. “A lot of ups and downs, but the main thing is that it has just been a lot of life lessons. I have learned a lot along the way, and we have been able to learn and understand each other’s language when it comes to sports, and that brings us closer as a family.”
“We have met so many amazing people at Royal T, and they really became family to us,” she added. “We talk every day, we hang out outside of sports, and it is just a family. It is nice to gain people who aren’t your blood, but you can still call them family.”
As one of four team moms, Traci has played a vital role in the Royal T organization. From verifying players and distributing gear to providing both physical and emotional support to the team.
“As a team mom, you just help with whatever is needed. There is a lot to do at the beginning of the season with all of the verifications for all of the different age groups,” said Traci. “And just trying to organize get-togethers with the boys for all of the age groups, and being as hands-on as possible is what team moms do. Just so we can try and alleviate any type of weight on the president and the president’s wife for Royal T.”
Chris said that coaching this age group is quite different from working with younger players, as they grasp and apply football fundamentals much more quickly. He describes this year’s team as a tough, talented group of kids.
“They are more disciplined and more experienced in a sense, compared to other age groups,” said Chris. “This group of guys is a very battle-tested team.”
Watching the players grow from the first day of the season to now has been the most rewarding part of coaching this group at Royal T for Chris.
“Seeing them grow and understand the game more is very rewarding for me as a coach. We have a few kids from different organizations that came to us this year, and to have them adapt to new coaches and different terminology has also been rewarding,” said Chris.
Aside from their obvious talent, Traci admires the players’ maturity for their age because they know when it’s time to focus and when it’s okay to have fun.
“They are a great bunch of kids, and they are very respectful,” said Traci. “They know when it’s time to have fun, and they also know when it is time to be serious. They are able to turn that serious switch on and realize that they are here for a reason, and that they have business to take care of.”
Like many youth football coaches, their efforts are driven by a genuine love for the kids. Traci believes that Royal T does an outstanding job of shaping not only players, but also families and the broader community.
“When you look at these coaches, they don’t get anything out of it. They sacrifice their free time during the week and on the weekends to help these kids,” said Traci. “They try so much to instill different things into these young men, because you only have a small window with them during the season. I just love seeing the sacrifice from this program and how much it offers the youth. Because they are young, they don’t realize how great of an opportunity that they have.”
To Chris, football is about more than wins and losses, and he measures success on his team by the character of his players and their commitment to being good people.
“When you see them successful in life, getting awards, doing good, and becoming better men and potential husbands and fathers, that is success,” said Chris. “It is all about the good times we share and just being a good person.”
As a coach, Chris admits that he can be tough on the kids, but it all comes from a place of love. His goal is to help them grow, not only into the best players they can be, but also into outstanding young men within their community.
“My coaching style is hard, but fun at the same time,” said Chris. “I instill discipline in them, and that it is more than just football. The things that you do on the field translate to life off the field.”
“The way you treat your coaches is the same way you treat your parents and other adults. It is always yes ma’am, no sir, that type of thing. The respect factor of coaching is big,” he added.
As his players approach the end of their youth football careers, Chris hopes they will look back on these years as a time of fun, camaraderie, and simply enjoying the game as kids.
“I want them to remember playing football at this age, and remember the time that we spent together,” said Chris. “Also, I want them to know that they had fun, and at the same time, they grew and learned something new that they didn’t know before that they can use in life to get better.”
Traci echoed the sentiment.
“At the end of the day, we just want these young men to be good people when they leave and when they get older. We just want them to remember the life lessons that were taught from their coaches and as well as from us teen moms along the way,” said Traci. “We just want them to be great humans.”
