Mike Vukovcan “I feel like I’ve had two chapters of my life close in less than a year.”
It was a long emotional weekend for Jamie Yurcina and his Hopewell 6th Grade Girls Travel Basketball team.
Not only did their season end but so did their careers in grade school basketball. Coach Yurcina’s Navy Travel Team lost in the semifinals to Beaver, 31-26.
The goal and expectation was to win a championship but that didn’t happen which made Yurcina’s last team talk very difficult and obviously emotional.
“It wasn’t easy. There was a lot of crying, a lot of hugging,” Yurcina told Vikings Sports Now. “I told them that this isn’t the end of their journey, this is just the end of their youth basketball journey and that their real basketball journey is just beginning. Next year, junior high/school ball is in play, with practices every single day. This is just the beginning. I don’t think any of that helped (laughing) but I think in time, they’ll feel better and look back at what’s happened and on their successful careers in youth basketball.”
While seeing these young ladies upset and crying, the positive was that it reinforced what Yurcina and his staff already knew and that was that these girls truly care.
“This is supposed to hurt because if it didn’t hurt then we wouldn’t be playing for the right reasons. It hurts because we all want to win and trust me, it hurts me to see them hurting. Even in our game Friday night against Ambridge, we had a couple of girls coming off crying and I told them that I love that you care that much.”
“Although we won against Ambridge on Friday, girls were coming off crying because they made a mistake. I love them that there is that much emotion, but we try and always teach them to just play the next play and do their best.”
This group of players certainly did that as they worked long and hard to get better. Along this 4-year journey, these Lady Vikings did that and along the way, won plenty of games, tournaments and created lifelong memories.
“It’s very rewarding knowing that all of these girls have gotten better,” said Yurcina. “Just seeing them grow from tiny 8-year-old girls to grow up to be 11–12-year-old young ladies, to have the tenacity, the drive that they have. That’s each and every one of them, that whole 6th grade group on both the Gold and Navy team.”
“Over the years, I’ve told them, you have to believe in me. I’m working you hard because I believe in you. It’s not that I like to watch you run and sweat but there’s going to be a reward at the end of the tunnel. I’m coaching you now to be able to come watch you play for WPIAL Championships when you get to high school, and this is where it starts. To their credit, they all bought into that. The red faces after practices, the sweat, the tears, the huffing and puffing. I told them that one day, it’s all going to pay off and they bought into it.”
Next up for this group of players is taking their talent and competing at the junior high level. These ladies have won plenty of games over the last few years and combined with the players that are in front of them, Yurcina isn’t the only person that believes their success can continue.
“This past weekend at the tournament, I was talking to Jodie Fusetti (owner and trainer at Rein 3D in Chippewa) and Coach Raso from Central Valley. Both of them came up to me and said, ‘Hopewell is going to be the program to watch’. They were very complimentary of how at each level, we have improved and developed.”
“That’s kudos to the coaches we have now, that’s kudos to Coach Rushel Shell, to Coach Chris Otto, guys that have been involved over the years,” said Yurcina. “We’ve all put a lot of time in, and Coach Homziak is really happy too because he sees it. Coach Raso told me that if you can get one or two players from each age group to become a really good that I’m happy. Honestly, I feel like we’re developing 4 or 5 players from each age group that could be really good basketball players.”
If you think this weekend was just difficult for the players, you’d be mistaken. These last few years for Yurcina weren’t just putting in time and coaching a group of players, he and staff put their heart and soul into this group of girls and as he emotionally explained, that’s now over with.
“It was tough sitting on the recliner last night and looking back. I feel like I’ve had two chapters of my life close in less than a year. Coaching those girls, coaching those boys (youth/pony league baseball) it kind of makes me feel old but now I’m going to sit back and watch them as they get older now and in school ball and winning championships.”
”I told each one of these girls yesterday and I old those boys, they’re like family to me, every single one of them. They’re like my own kids, I’ve been around them so much, I know so much about them, I know their families, it’s been a very rewarding ride. It’s going to be hard, but now I’m going to enjoy sitting back watching.”
Anyone that knows Yurcina knows that he’s someone with a smile on his face and most times is in a jovial mood.
My final question to him allowed me to see a side I’ve never seen before as he was quite emotional when talking about having the opportunity to coach both his son, Jackson, and his daughter, Gia. That chapter of his life is now over.
“I will say that it’s a lot different coaching your son than your daughter. Jackson and I butted heads a lot more than Gia and I but I guess that’s your little girl too.”
“Coaching both of them has been a joy and something that I’m going to remember the rest of my life, hopefully they get to feel that when they’re adults and have their own kids and feel how rewarding that is to coach your kids and be in that environment.”
