Aiden McKenna could have gone down the shore.
Instead, he went down to coach.
McKenna is a rising senior at Holy Ghost Prep and a lifelong soccer player.
Growing up, the Morrell Park native was always one of the best soccer players on his team until he got to high school. There, he was still a talented player, but when playing against bigger, stronger and faster players, he knew he had to come up with a way to level the playing field.
He did that by thinking like his dad, who has coached him since he started playing the sport.
“When I was younger, I was one of the better players but as you get older, the athleticism didn’t go so fast, but the mental side still did,” McKenna said. “You start to think about how you can do things, impact the game through what you know. You have to be smarter. That got me thinking like a coach.”
McKenna doesn’t just think like a coach anymore.
He is a coach. And he has the perfect role model.
Aiden helped his dad Chris run a team at Huntingdon Valley Athletic Association. Together, they’re not just helping kids get better at the sport they both love, they’re getting more out of it than their players.
“I see how much it impacts my dad, he really loves doing it, and I love soccer, so I thought about it, and two or three years ago I really thought about doing it,” Aiden said. “I saw how much fun my dad had, it impacted his life. Once I got into it, there’s so much more to sports than being on the field and being a good player. Impacting players personally more than just soccer. I wanted to leave that impact for younger kids.”
Not just at home.
Sure, McKenna had a great time coaching his team in the suburbs, but after school ended, he went to Mexico for a missionary trip few weeks to help coach athletes down there.
He not only brought his knowledge of the game, but brought the kids lots of joy, and him and his classmates donated soccer balls and other goodies.
“It was a great trip, I went through the school, they offer different kind of trips for community service and this was one of the options and we could afford it,” McKenna said. “I explored a new country and helped people, and I was able to help continue to grow the connection between our school and other groups.
“Fun trip, the people were great. I had a lot of support from everyone. It wasn’t uncomfortable, they made us welcome. The kids were great. I gave them patches, and they loved it. I think everyone there had a lot of fun.”
Obviously the coaching connection is in the McKenna family tree.
Chris and Amy have four kids and all like sports.
Aiden’s brother CJ loved sports. He went to Ryan where he played soccer and helped the basketball team as a manager.
Maddy graduated from Nazareth this year, and was on the school’s leadership team. She also played soccer and was the manager of the basketball team.
And Aiden’s only younger sibling, Meghan, is also a soccer player, and like Aiden, she probably has a future in coaching.
“Aiden has a great personality for coaching and Meg will coach, too,” Chris said. “I have a lot of fond memories of winning trophies and going to tournaments and all from coaching, but when you can look and watch your kids take what you taught them and see them use similar-type words and phrases, it’s special.
“It’s cool when you see he enjoys doing it. Hopefully he can give back. I mean I had Jerry Brindsi and Tom Kalup (Fishtown coach). My dad coached me first. It’s cool when you can take stuff from those guys, watch how they gave back, they might have been paid enough to pay for gas one way to the field. They did it to give back. I wanted to do that and I’d love to see my kids do the same.”
But now it’s more than just watching him give back.
Aiden can coach. Maybe better than dad.
“Technically he’s not the fastest kid in the world, but technically, he was always one of the better players understanding the game, knowing where the ball should go, knowing where everyone should be,” dad said of Aiden. “The best athletes sometimes don’t know how to coach because it comes naturally to them. He’s a kid who understands the game and can play any position. He can train and tell people how to do it. He’s not the biggest or fastest. Same with Meghan where the ball should go. They know the game. It’s fun to watch.”
That’s the support that makes Aiden want to do it. But he gets it from more than just dad.
“My dad taught me so much, and so did my current coaches Scott Schweizer and Damien Schweizer, they came about four years ago, and made soccer fun, I’ve learned so much,” said Aiden, who hopes to major in sports management or finance and is eyeing Notre Dame, Syracuse and Villanova after Holy Ghost. “I’ve had great coaches, that has helped.
“And my mom is a big part of the other side. Not so much sports, but she’s always driving us, getting us there, and then also around the house, making me a better person, helping me grow. My parents are a big part of how I’ve grown as a person, and by allowing me to go to Holy Ghost Prep, they’re helping me do better. They grew up in Fishtown, they didn’t leave the country. I’m experiencing things they didn’t get to.”
McKenna is looking forward to having a strong senior year, and he knows he has a future in the game. It might not be on the field, but that’s fine.
“Sports aren’t ‘about I’m the best player’ ” McKenna said. “Understand that being a part of a team, you can leave an impact if you’re not scoring or the best player, you can contribute. Make your impact through personal lives, pick them up on the field when they’re down, help them grow as human beings.
“Sports are great. You can do so much with them. I know I’m not the best player, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have a big impact.”
