Coach V
Coupeville is blessed with a strong group of coaches.
Across the board, regardless of the sport, at the high school, middle school, youth or select team levels, Cow Town has a group of men and women who show great commitment to their athletes and work with them on both a sports and a personal level.
One of the best of the group, Dustin Van Velkinburgh, aka Coach V, hits the big 3-0 today.
And, while his advancing years may require him to seek out a walker and a stiff shot of prune juice (says a guy 13 years older…), there is no quit in the guy.
A very talented athlete in his day (football, basketball, soccer and on and on), he can still kick the pampered rears of most, if not all, of his players.
But, while that reality lingers out there, Coach V is the perfect example of a player’s coach.
One who knows when to be a kid’s best friend and when to be the guy in charge. When to console and cheer and when to push.
He remembers what it was like to be a young man without a father figure.
What it was like to find guidance and the (occasional) kick in the rear from coaches like Ron Bagby and Randy King during his own days as a Wolf.
It made him a man, one who has gone on to raise a swarm of happy children with wife Jessica.
Coupeville gave him much in his younger days, something he speaks of often. And he has returned the favor over the years, giving back to the children of a community he deeply loves.
There is no artifice. No question dodging. He remains the same after a big win as after a horrifying loss.
A small smile, a quiet word off to the side to one kid, a public calling-out of another.
He finds out how they tick, what will drive them and what will crumple them, and he hits all the right notes, fitting his lesson to them as individuals, not faceless cogs in an athletic factory.
Coach V, and others like him, are doing more than making athletes. They are given teenagers and they do their best to help them prepare for life after the cheers and pep rallies.
If they win games, great, but the bigger victories come years later, when the next Coach V stays in town (or returns) and picks up the mantle. The man makes a kid a man and he pays it forward.
Every community worth its salt has a coach like Dustin. That one guy who is his town through and through.
Who, only years later, when you see his legacy in full, do you realize the impact he had. The lives he steered in the right direction, the kids he gave a last chance to, the way he altered destinies, sometimes subtly and sometimes with a bold hand.
In Coupeville, we call him Coach V, and we should be very, very grateful we have him.
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