PHOENIX — From soccer to basketball to flag football, Drew Veatch knows what it takes to coach young athletes.
“A good coach is just anybody that's willing to give back, somebody that's patient, understanding and just trying to get every kid involved,” Veatch said.
As the Learning and Development Manager for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley, Veatch is already invested in the wellbeing of the club’s attendees. But since 2015, he’s also been a volunteer coach for several sports across the Boys & Girls Clubs.
“There is no greater feeling than providing the opportunity for a kid to invest in themselves, and then seeing that investment pay off, and that's what brings me back every season,” Veatch said.
Almost 10 years into his coaching career, Veatch’s former athletes are seeing their coach’s investment in them pay off.
Last year, ABC15 met one of Veatch’s former athletes, Adrijan Hyseni, who played flag football under Veatch’s helm.
“He’s basically been my head coach since I was a little kid,” Hyseni told ABC15.
The oldest of five, Hyseni began playing on his local Boys & Girls Club flag football team when he was in third grade. Veatch was his coach throughout his flag football journey at the Boys & Girls Club. Now, according to Veatch, Hyseni has committed to playing for the Papago Pumas Junior College Football Team.
“It was an amazing experience knowing that Drew was willing to take the opportunity on one kid that he didn't even know just to help him become something great one day,” Hyseni said in a 2024 interview with ABC15.
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According to Hyseni, Veatch taught him the importance of taking lessons learned on the football field and applying them to everyday life.
“He taught me that during the game, you're going to take hits, but it's the same as life,” Hyseni said.
Veatch’s coaching style also resonated with Anayiah Sanchez, the first girl to play flag football for the Guadalupe branch of the Boys & Girls Club of the Valley.
Veatch was Sanchez’s coach in 2016 when she joined the Guadalupe flag football team.
When ABC15 interviewed Sanchez last year, she credited Veatch with teaching her to stay calm and collected on the football field.
“He always pushed me to become like my better self as a quarterback,” Sanchez said.
According to Veatch, Sanchez is set to start coaching flag football for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley in the fall.
“Back then, girls in flag football was not as common,” Veatch said. “So just to see her resiliency and to see how she developed as an athlete, and her time with us, the friendships that she made, she then went on to go play at her high school team, and was an excellent player there, and now she's giving back and coaching as well. So [it’s] just a really cool give back moment where it's like, you know, the world just keeps reinvesting in itself.”
It’s a cycle Veatch is familiar with. He was inspired by his former coaches growing up. Their influence, in part, made him want to become a coach.
“It's not something that I thought I would ever get to experience or something that I get to see,” Veatch said. “But it's a really cool moment to know that, you know, the coaches that inspired me, [and then] I went on to coach, and now there are kids that I coached who are inspiring other youth. That's really cool.”
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ABC15 Arizona, Earnhardt Auto Centers, and Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley are partnering for the 2nd Chance Sports Gear Drive to help youth and teens in need of sports gear.
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Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley is most in need of basketball, soccer, and flag football gear.
