Nonprofit coach dedicated to city’s youth
JACKSONVILLE — At the end of 2016, budget cuts led to the elimination of Mike Williams’ role through the city of Jacksonville, but Williams knew he’d still show up for the job.
Williams, or Coach Mike, as he is known, is the athletic coordinator and program director at the Boys & Girls Club of Jacksonville, a role that had been through the city of Jacksonville in 2016. After the decision to eliminate his city-funded position, the Boys & Girls Club decided to hire Williams so he could continue his role. But even if the club hadn’t made that decision, Williams said, he’d still be present in the children’s lives.
“When the situation came up, it was hard because with the city, I had the benefits and everything. They were good benefits,” Williams said. “My wife and I sat down and talked, and she was like, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’ I was like, ‘I can’t leave those kids. Whatever I do, if it’s in
a volunteer role or whatever, I can’t leave them because then I’ll just be adding to the problem.’ That’s what I try to teach the kids. I’m here for the long haul. If I wouldn’t have been a part of it, I wouldn’t have been truthful with them.”
Williams, a Jacksonville native who has had an interest in sports for as long as he can remember, got his start at the Boys & Girls Club of Jacksonville when he was 6.
“My first sport that I played here was basketball, and I’ve loved it ever since,” he said.
For the past eight years, he’s been at the Boys & Girls Club, where he oversees its athletic programs and events. He also drives a van each school day to three elementary schools to pick up students who attend the club after school.
Williams said being involved with sports is about more than just building athleticism.
“You learn how to work with others, team building,” he said. “There’s life lessons in every sport. I believe if you can learn how to work with other people, that’s big in anything you do. When you get older, and you’re working in a job place, it’ll all funnel back into what you learned when playing sports.”
There are about 150 students in the club’s co-ed basketball program. There are at least 16 teams that are separated into age groups 6-8, 9-10 and 11-12.
“I have kids that I’ve seen since they’ve started at age 6 and worked their way through, and they’re gone off, either working, or some of them are even playing professional sports,” he said. “And I still have contact with those kids every day, so that lets me know that it works. Every time they come to town, they stop by, come to speak, see how Coach Mike is doing. That means a lot because a lot of the kids that we cater to are looking for a figure that they know is going to be there no matter what.”
On Dec. 5, the board for the nonprofit had an emergency meeting and unanimously voted to hire Williams, said LaConda Watson, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Jacksonville.
“That was a pretty easy decision for me because I’ve been in my role now for the past eight months. I know how important Mike is to the true mission of the Boys & Girls Club,” she said. “There are portions of his job that I know I can’t do and don’t want to do. He has always been an asset for me. He knows the kids extremely well.”
Hiring Williams through the nonprofit affected its budget because a new hire was not in the plans, but Watson said she is glad to have Williams there.
“He’s definitely a believer in the community,” Watson said. “He’s a lifetime resident of Jacksonville, a great man, a great person, and his heart and soul are all about the Boys & Girls Club, and I’m truly thankful that we’re still hanging in there and able to make things work.”
Teachers and parents also provide feedback on Williams’ influence in the children’s lives, he said.
“They’re like, ‘I want you to know that he told me that Coach Mike said if he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do at school that he’s going to have to sit down for a while, or he’s going to have cleanup,’” Williams said. “‘For some reason, he really believes what you’re telling him.’
“I have parents all the time tell us, ‘Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it because they listen to you. They believe what you’re telling them.’”
Williams said money isn’t the only way to positively affect the club. A lot of parents of the children who utilize the club are single parents who want to make sure their children have a safe, encouraging after-school environment, he said.
“Donations are great; don’t get me wrong. They’re wonderful, but that’s not the only way they can help,” he said. “Adult time with these kids means a lot to them. A lot of them are craving that attention from adults. That’s not a knock on the parents or anything, but it’s hard for a single parent to work all those hours, come home and still spend as much time as the kids are wanting. If [the parents] could drop by, volunteer, that all helps.”
For a lot of children who may encounter adults coming in and out of their lives, Williams said, he strives to be that constant presence they can count on.
“I want to be that rock, that stable rock, that they know whenever they see me — not just the hours when the club is open, if they see me out anywhere — I want them to feel like they can come: ‘ Coach Mike, I want to talk to you.’ It doesn’t matter wherever we’re at. I always have time for them,” he said.
Williams said the club now aims to implement a girls volleyball program and track team. Eventually, he’d like there to be a girls league in the club’s basketball program.
Outside of his role with the Boys & Girls Club, Williams enjoys attending local school sporting events and school activities in which the children participate.
“I love my city of Jacksonville,” he said. “I think sometimes we get a bad rap. With the new school district, we’re going in the right direction, and it might have some growing pains, but whatever I can do out in the community, I love to do it because I’m from here.”