Passionate about both teaching and playing sports, Diamond Bar High School sophomores Maya Metah and Eman Fasih as well as freshman Amelia Loch have taken up coaching soccer outside of school.

Metah and Fasih coach with Loch under the supervision of their head coach. The girls teach children ages four to six years old.

After playing for the American Youth Soccer Organization in Diamond Bar, Metah was offered a position to coach the Stormtroopers team by her coach. Metah expressed her initial worry before taking up her coach’s offer.

“I was uncertain at first because I wasn’t sure I would be able to juggle the time commitment with my other commitments outside of coaching,” she said.

Despite her initial uneasiness, Metah said that after a month of coaching, she has come to enjoy it.

“It’s so much fun; I love coaching and I love the kids and they’re so excited to be there, and it makes me really happy to see their passion for the sport,” Metah said.

Fasih said she was interested in coaching as a result of  seven years of  playing soccer. Metah and Fasih work together and go over drills and exercises with the players, teaching them how to pass the ball or how to play scrimmages.

“Sometimes, we might play a game or teach them a new thing, like recently we taught them how to pass, so that was fun,” Fasih said.

Fasih expressed her contentment when she observed players apply skills they learned during practice and the drills she had taught them in their games.

“The kids are so energetic and so enthusiastic about everything,” she said. “They’re just like little sponges, and they just absorb all the information.”

Fasih said there have not been many student coaches in AYSO, stating she had hardly seen any in her time playing for the soccer organization.

“Technically we’re not old enough to coach yet; so we’re called coaches, but we can’t officially,” Fasih said.        

Loch said she was inspired to take up coaching because of her sister. Prior to committing to coach at AYSO with Metah and Fasih, Loch said she had coached her sister.

“I have known Maya for a couple of years and we have done soccer together in the past, and Eman is her friend and we all just agreed to coach together,” Loch said via Instagram.

Though the kids they coach are younger than they are, Loch said that coaching has taught her valuable lessons about morals and sportsmanship, pointing out the way the players reacted when other teams made fun of them.

“The kids were never mean back and kept playing the game,” she said. “It taught me that even though it might make you mad, you just have to shake it off.”