Helping Youth Manage Frustration Through Soccer: An Interview with Diego Gallardo — Volunteer Spotlight
KSC Volunteer Spotlight - November 2021: Diego Gallardo/Photo by Alberto Huichapa.
Diego Gallardo was looking for an opportunity to coach with a youth-based sports organization when he moved to Philadelphia seven years ago. He reached out to Kensington Soccer Club, who he’d heard great things about. Unfortunately, he heard no answer back.
“It’s quite funny it took me this long to finally come in and coach here,” Gallardo said, who coaches the U12 boys travel team. “During the pandemic when I was doing grocery deliveries in Kensington, some people who were coaching with [Kensington Soccer Club] told me they needed some coaches and that’s when I thought I should do it, so I did.”
Gallardo understood that his kids went through entire days being told what to do by adults, so he wanted to provide them with opportunities to figure things out on their own during his practices.
“It’s a less formal way of teaching kids,” he said. “ I like to allow my kids some ability to be themselves and work on things without waiting on people to tell them how to fix it, not just in soccer but their personal frustrations as well. A lot of soccer is about being on your own, communicating with your teammates and figuring out a problem to a solution, so I want the kids to work on that.”
Gallardo helps teach the young boys that it’s okay to be angry and frustrated. It’s part of being human. However, it’s the way we respond to our frustrations that determine the turnout of events after.
“When kids don’t get their way on the field, they can get very frustrated and they can be very vocal about it in ways that aren't appropriate,” he said. “I’ve worked with a lot of different kids on different things they could do during games and practices to voice that frustration, because that’s real and everyone needs to be able to vent, but there’s productive and unproductive ways.”
In addition to the U12’s, he’s also had to coach some U8’s in his team this past season. While he says it has been challenging, he did answer this when asked about his most memorable moments coaching:
“I had two of my kids who are trilingual try to teach me Arabic,” he said. “They thought I wasn’t going to find out that they were teaching me a bad word. They can be a bit devious but in the end, it’s all a rewarding experience.”
More about Diego Gallardo
Gallardo recently started working for soccer jersey company, Icarus FC, which is based out of Kensington. He also tries to get involved in the community as much as possible by volunteering through different organizations or talking to neighbors to figure out problems. In his downtime, he loves to watch a lot of soccer (some might say too much, according to him). He also loves to play music.