Shelby Cassesse tells the story of Ligonier Valley senior Matt Marinchak who, after growing up in a YMCA, is using those moments to now give back to his community
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Ligonier Valley senior gives back to kids in community
When Matt Marinchak was young, it was near impossible for his parents to pull him away from the Ligonier Valley YMCA.
“My parents had to tell me to leave,” Marinchak said. “I wasn’t eating anything. I was there for like eight hours, playing. It’s been like my second home. Everyone always messes around and says I open my Christmas presents there on Christmas.”
The hours spent at the Y rival his father, who is the program director at the facility.
The Ligonier Valley senior football and basketball player says years worth of camps, kickball tournaments and pickup games with friends fostered a love of sports.
“Being able to go there every day and put the time in to make me a better player and better person,” he explained.
And it sparked a passion for volunteering. It started when Marinchak became heavily involved with the same youth basketball program he grew up in at the Y, keeping score for the younger kids and coaching the older ones.
“To see every single kid progress over that six weeks is so awesome to see,” he said. “The first two weeks they’ll talk to each other a little bit. But that last week, they’ll be high diving each other, passing the ball, working as a team. That’s just so nice to see at a young age.”
But Marinchak’s community impact extends far outside the doors of the YMCA. He volunteers with a school program called Food To Go For Kids, where he packs free school lunches for his classmates in need, but it's completely anonymous. Volunteers don't know who receives the lunches, and recipients don't know who packed their lunch.
Outside of structured volunteer hours though, Ligonier Valley athletic director Joe Skura says Matt is lending a helping hand whenever he sees the chance.
“He gets it,” Skura said. “Hr understands that the way you treat people really matters. And I think that’s a big part of who he is as an athlete. He’s worked so hard on the court, but he’s humble.”
How does he fit it all in? Volunteering is actually an escape.
“Even if I do have a lot of homework, it’s nice going to coach, just taking my mind off the schoolwork,” Marinchak said. “The kids just look up to me and you want to make them better. It’s a stress reliever.”
On top of all of that, Marinchak is preparing for the big next steps. He's planning to play basketball for Pitt-Greensburg.
Though there will soon be less time for volunteering, coaching and spending time at the Y, Matt's making sure his passions are still well within reach. He plans to major in early childhood education inspired, of course, by a program at the building that helped raise him.
“There’s this program through the Y that, you go out to a playground for three hours,” Marinchak said. “It’s kind of like babysitting, but we played games because we were outside. It was fun getting to meet all of the kids.
“After that, I’ll be working at the Y in childcare over the summer.”
Teaching. A perfect fit for the guy who will never hesitate to help.
“With everything going on in the world, it’s such a harsh and mean place. I want to be a little help to fix it. I’m not going to be able to fix the whole world, but helping out as many people as I can… I just love to help.”