Coaching ‘not just wins and losses’ for Zach Bergbigler
BUTLER TWP — Those who haven’t, coach.
That’s Zach Bergbigler’s case, at least.
Bergbigler, a 25-year-old Clearfield Township native and 2017 Butler Senior High School graduate, has been a volunteer flag football coach at the Family Sports Center since 2015. When his cousin, Chris Vicari, asked him to be an assistant with the 10-and-under team, he figured it would be something to do. There’s also a deeper meaning behind Bergbigler’s commitment.
“The main reason I was willing to try it was because I played basketball some, but I never played any other sports because I was too, I’d say, shy ... anxious,” he said. “My main concern was always the coaches. They’re perceived (on) TV … in mostly all-aggressive fashion. I was just too scared to make mistakes.
“It was a way to connect to the sport without having to play the sport. I understood, generally speaking, what I should be able to do, what I have to do. Mentally, I couldn’t overcome the block to actually play.”
At first, Bergbigler tracked substitutes while mainly keeping to himself and sparingly offering pointers as he grew more comfortable. Unsurprisingly, his coaching style doesn’t resemble that of the boisterous authoritarian.
“I like to connect to the players more,” Bergbigler said. “It’s necessary to have that (loud) style, but you need to have someone who can be like a sounding board also. I have a general feel for what they could be going through.”
Eventually, with his help, the teams he coached transitioned from a basic man-to-man defensive coverage scheme to a zone concept — not an easy task given the teams didn’t have practices. Other teams followed suit.
Bergbigler has coached up to four teams in different age groups at once. In his iPhone’s notes app, he’s tallied game results and individual statistics for each of the 170 kids he’s coached. The process helps keep the players engaged and shows he cares how they do.
“I’m super quiet, but you’ve got to come out of your shell over time if you truly want to start to connect and improve on what you’re doing,” Bergbigler said. “Not just wins and losses or personal accolades, (but) if you care about the people you’re coaching, that’ll get you a jump start on the X-and-O’s people.”
When Bergbigler began his tutelage, the Family Sports Center’s program had six teams over two age brackets. It’s grown to five age brackets during his involvement.
“A large part of it, I think, comes from us coaching repeatedly there and spreading the word ourselves to different kids and their friends,” he said.
Bergbigler met Paul Ritchie along the way, which opened a door into coaching youth tackle football with the Butler Area Midget Football League. Having never donned shoulder pads and a helmet, Bergbigler didn’t have a grasp of fundamentals such as defensive gaps. He’s absorbed more and more over time since he joined that organization in 2021.
“I had to learn that from coaching and seeing film and hearing other guys with more experience coaching,” Bergbigler said. “Just that ability to connect to them (the players) is what I think helps and what I can bring to the table … I think a large part of a team is their comfort, their belief.
“If you’re comfortable with a coach, you’re going to be more comfortable in everything you do.”
That support also might be the difference in a youth sticking with the sport and building important, long-lasting bonds in the process.
“Some of the quieter kids, that might be them taking a chance playing (sports),” Bergbigler said. “Maybe that’s their first core group of friends they meet that way and then you have that to help carry you.”
