Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 7, 1 Iulai 2010 — OHA in the community [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA in the community

Scoring goals at home and on the soccer field

When he's not exercising his creative flair as the webmaster and art guru at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, John Matsuzaki teaches soccer skills to keiki.

Matsuzaki, a 1990 Kamehameha Schools graduate, volunteers his time coaching the soccer teams of his two oldest children, Jonah, 9, and Julia, 7. Although his charges are very young, Matsuzaki tries to instill lessons of responsibility and teamwork by treating the players like grown ups. "They're like little people," he says of his American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) players. "The more responsibility you give them, the better they ean react to situations and adapt instead of being told where to run or when to kiek the ball." A father of three, Matsuzaki admits that his own kids are fairly competitive by nature and love to play sports, whieh makes his job as a eoaeh easier. Although balancing the Dad role and Coach role

ean be challenging sometimes, he says it's all made possible with the help of his wife of 15 years, Juli, who readies their children for practices and shuttles them back and forth. AYSO is an organization generally run through the hard work of volunteers, and Matsuzaki was eager to answer the eall of duty. "Originally I started coaching so that my kids could play soccer," he says. "But I've eome to realize that coaching my own kids has strength-

ened and expanded my relationship with them. It's important to me and my wife to be around our kids so they know when they grow up that we were there for them."

Matsuzaki coaches in AYSO Region 178, whieh spans from Salt Lake to Hawai'i Kai, and he holds practices near his daughter's school, Ma'ema'e Elementary. After ending last season in early June with his daughter's soccer team, The Wizards, Coach John is gearing up for the next season in September. Only this time, his youngest son, 4-year-old Jonas, will also start playing. Does that mean Dad will be coaching three teams? Yes, he says, even if it's in an assitant's role. But he's up to the challenge, he says, "It's just a rewarding experience overall to see kids evolve and leam new things." — Jemnfer Armstrong ■

Mūtsuzaki I

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