Peggy Zarantonello is the Sports Coordinator for the La Porte County Family YMCA. She has always had a passion for sports and has had a lot of experience working with children, so this position ties in two of the things she is most passionate about.
Zarantonello babysat in high school and spent her time taking care of her 18 nieces and nephews. Right after high school, she got her first job working at the YMCA childcare center. After her daughter was old enough to participate in sports, Zarantonello began coaching.
“I have coached for four seasons of girls softball, and I coached for five years of cheer for La Porte Pop Warner. I was the cheer coordinator for two years and helped grow the cheer program to over 150 participants. We actually had the largest cheer program in the entire Midwest during that time. All of that was on a volunteer basis,” Zarantonello said.
Alongside being a mother, coaching, and being a girl scout leader, Zarantonello began a girl's basketball program so girls in the La Porte County area would be able to learn and practice the fundamentals of the game. She began this program right before COVID-19 began, which made her reevaluate some things.
“Then COVID happened and stopped everything. I kind of reevaluated life during that time and thought I just wanted to do a little bit more. I was a stay-at-home mom for so long, and of course, yes, I coached, but I was looking to do something more in the community,” Zarantonello said.
After this reevaluation, she decided to begin more basketball clinics. During the fall of 2020, she worked to find a safe way for children to participate in these clinics to ensure they were staying social and active during the pandemic.
“We ended up with over 80 kids participating, which was a lot during that time,” Zarantonello said. “There were still some families that didn't feel comfortable, but we socially distanced, we sanitized basketballs, we did everything we could to get the kids back in it and being physically active again.”
Around this time, Zarantonello was made aware that the La Porte County YMCA was hiring for their Sports Coordinator position, and she began working there in December of 2020.
“I hit the ground running with all the connections that I had from all the youth sports in the community. It was less than a year into COVID and it was difficult to know what people wanted, but the overwhelming response was that they wanted their kids back into things but they wanted things to be safe,” Zarantonello said. “We made very strategic plans for our clinics that we did to keep kids socially distanced. We took as many precautions as we could to make sure that they were healthy and that we were doing our best to do our part and be safe as well, but give the kids a chance to socialize and be active through all of this.”
When Zarantonello began working at the YMCA, she knew she wanted to make a change, for the better, for youth sports. Zarantonello wanted to make every child feel like there was something for them to participate in.
“When I interviewed with our CEO, I had said I wanted to do something different. What I have noticed in sports in general for kids now is that it's not the same as it used to be. There's so much emphasis on travel that there's not a place for every kid in that,” Zarantonello said. “My big goal going in there when I interviewed and I took the job was to just completely change the landscape of sports at our La Porte County Family YMCA.”
This meant they were going to offer traditional sports, as well as clinics for those children who may not be too familiar with the basics of how the sports work, or the technique that goes into playing the sport. Along with the clinics, Zarantonello also wanted to implement things other than traditional sports.
“One thing we tried out once in the spring and once in the summer was that we hosted Nerf gun nights, and they were held out at our soccer fields that we own here in La Porte. The kids bring in a Nerf gun, and we provide the ammunition and eye protection. We had over 50 kids both times,” Zarantonello said. “The kids were asking if we could do it every week. A lot of the participants were kids who don't participate in any other sports, but they loved running around. Because that was so popular, I am offering that as a league here the spring in our YMCA and we already have a lot of people signed up to participate.”
Events like these allow children that do not typically participate in sports to get out there and be active. Children are able to socialize and make friends while being active and having fun.
Along with the sports, and active events, Zarantonello also works with children that are passionate about volunteering. She began a youth volunteer group at the YMCA called the Togetherhood Project to provide opportunities to those ages 10 to 17 that want to get out and help the community.
“They have helped at every major event the La Porte Family YMCA has had and they've been able to help out in the community as well. We keep track of their hours and plan to do so indefinitely so when they go on to apply for jobs or college or trade schools, we'll be able to give them a printout of how many hours they volunteered there,” Zarantonello said. “We have over 50 kids in the group now. In 2021, they volunteered over 250 hours, and in 2022 we're up to 92 hours already.”
Zarantonello is extremely passionate about making every child feel welcome and providing them with a sense of belonging. Between being the Sports Coordinator for the La Porte County Family YMCA, beginning the Togetherhood Project, and also being the eighth-grade girl's basketball head coach as well as coaching track for the La Porte Community School Corporation, she is making an impact on countless children’s lives.
“I really truly love kids and I want to be able to give all kids in our community a chance to participate in things and feel like they belong somewhere,” Zarantonello said. “A lot of kids go through a lot of really bad things in their life and even if the Y gives them a little sense of belonging, love, recognition, or whatever they're missing in their life, then we've done our job the end of the day.”