YMCA’s Volunteer Of The Year Catches Coaching Bug

Zach Karikas, a Freedom High grad, receives his award from New Tampa YMCA sports and teen program director Eamonn O’Sullivan. (Photo provided by the YMCA) 

For the past five years, Zach Karikas has been a fixture at the New Tampa Family YMCA in Tampa Palms. If there was a youth league basketball game going on, Karikas was almost definitely there. Prior to the Coronavirus outbreak, he was a volunteer coach for four different teams in the league, which included the 7-8, 9-10, 11-12 and 13-15 age groups. 

When the gym at the New Tampa Y opened again for limited 3-on-3 leagues in the fall, Karikas continued coaching. The 5-on-5 leagues finally started up again in January. 

Karikas, 28, was recognized for his dedication when he was awarded the 2021 New Tampa Family YMCA Volunteer of the Year award. He received the honor from Sports Director Eamonn O’Sullivan in a virtual ceremony held in late March.

“I didn’t even know the Y did a Volunteer of the Year,’’ said a surprised Karikas, who adds that he has always loved basketball, even if he wasn’t particularly good at it.

 A 2011 graduate of Freedom High, also in Tampa Palms, he said he tried out for the basketball team all four years and was cut every year.

He went off to Marshall University in West Virginia to pursue a degree in athletic training. When that didn’t work out, Karikas left Marshall in 2013 to return to Wesley Chapel. A few years later, he wanted to apply for a college scholarship and one requirement was community service hours. That’s when he started volunteer coaching at the YMCA despite not having any kids of his own.

Zach Karikas

At first, he coached just one team. But, that quickly became four teams.

“I just fell in love with it,’’ he says. 

He currently is enrolled at Pasco-Hernando State College and his full-time job right now is installing shower doors. Ultimately, Karikas says he would like to earn a degree in sports management and coach basketball at either the high school or middle school level. It’s a passion he discovered five years ago at the New Tampa Family YMCA. 

“I caught the coaching bug,’’ Karikas says. “I really enjoy coaching the youth, both on and off the court, showing them that you don’t have to be Lebron James to succeed on or off the court. It’s not always going to be sunshine and rainbows — there are ups and downs. You just have to keep going with whatever you want to do. Being a positive role model is a good feeling. Right when I walk into that gym I’ve got like five kids coming up to me and saying ‘Hey, coach Zach.’ I love the ability to give back to the younger generation.’’

For more information about the New Tampa Family YMCA, located at 16221 Compton Dr., call (813) 866-9622 or visit TampaYMCA.org.

Check Out The Little Free Library At The New Tampa Family YMCA!

Volunteers from the GFWC New Tampa Junior Woman’s Club installed and maintain a Little Free Library outside the New Tampa Family YMCA. Everyone is invited to stop by to borrow a book or share one.

Getting books into the hands of those who want to read them has gotten a little easier for New Tampa residents, now that a Little Free Library has been installed and opened to the public outside the New Tampa Family YMCA.

Raequel Tomsich, who serves as vice president of communications & public relations for the GFWC (General Federation of Women’s Clubs) New Tampa Junior Woman’s Club (NTJWC), explains that a Little Free Library is a no-cost book exchange for the community. She says it’s part of a global phenomenon, with more than 80,000 of these community exchanges registered in 91 countries around the world at LittleFreeLibraries.com.

Raequel says she fell in love with the idea of a Little Free Library when she saw one while on vacation in Bryson City, NC, last summer. When she returned home, her New Tampa Juniors club was discussing ways to support a statewide project of the GFWC called Book Heroes that aims to get books into the hands of 10,000 children each year.

The GFWC New Tampa Junior Woman’s Club is a local nonprofit group that is part of an international organization committed to community service. Its members volunteer in the local community, raise money to support the club’s efforts, and meet monthly to discuss business, complete a hands-on service project, and plan upcoming events.

Club members decided to install a Little Free Library in Tampa Palms to support the statewide reading initiative.

They researched plans and obtained a GFWC Focus on Literacy grant provided by the Procter & Gamble Company to help with expenses. 

Little Free Libraries can look very different, but most are some variation of a wooden box. The New Tampa Juniors chose plans that resemble a house shape, with two shelves inside for books. It’s raised off the ground on a post.

It’s also a personal project for Raequel, who says her father used to do woodwork and taught her husband, Mike, who has now used those skills to build the library structure. Her kids helped to install it.

“I’m so proud of it,” she says.

Club members collected books for children and adults alike. They were thrilled when the New Tampa Family YMCA, located at 16221 Compton Dr. in Tampa Palms, agreed to allow the Juniors to install the library on its property.

The library works on the honor system and anyone can take a book or leave one.

“It’s our hope that people who borrow books also will contribute,” says Raequel. “It doesn’t matter if the same book makes it back, but it’s just great if you can take one and share one.”

Raequel says response has been great and that books are borrowed several times a day. She is a member of the YMCA and visits frequently and says she can tell the Little Free Library is being used by the number of books that are taken from it each time she visits. She also sees books being added to the library, and hears from the YMCA staff that their members tell them they like and appreciate the library.

“I don’t think we could have picked a better location,” says Raequel. “You don’t have to be a member to use it, but the Y has so many members. And now, with summer camps at the Y, more people who didn’t know it was there before will see it and start using it.”

The club is committed to ensuring that the library is maintained and restocked as necessary. Raequel says she and other club members add books to the library several times a week.

Because books are borrowed so frequently, they need to be replenished often. Books can be donated by leaving them in the library outside the YMCA. They can also be donated by contacting the club through its Facebook page at Facebook.com/GFWCNewTampaJuniors or find contact information at GFWCNewTampaJuniors.org.

“I love reading and the idea of getting books into the hands of kids,” says Raequel. “Especially in today’s world, with everyone usually on their electronics, it’s good to get people reading.”

New Tampa YMCA Picks Top Volunteer

Coach Brigid Merenda is congratulated for being named the New Tampa Family YMCA Volunteer of the Year.

Volunteer youth basketball coach Brigid Merenda has been named the New Tampa Family YMCA Volunteer of the Year.

At the New Tampa Y in Tampa Palms, Brigid uses her skills and experience as a college basketball player for the University of South Florida (1993-97) to teach the next generation of players the sport she loves.

“I have the ability and the skills to coach, and I had a lot of volunteer coaches in my life, so I want to give back,” says Brigid, who — in addition to her “day job” as a lawyer — also is a color commentator for radio broadcasts of the USF women’s basketball home games. (Our congratulations go out to the team, which is making its fifth NCAA tournament appearance in the last six seasons, all under the leadership of head coach and New Tampa resident JosĂ© Fernandez.)

Among the many volunteers at the Y, Brigid stands out.

“Brigid has been heavily involved in growing the girls’ basketball program with a unique talent to teach a group of young girls in a fun, but competitive way,” explains Michael Cosentino, executive director of the New Tampa Y. “Brigid is always on the court, active and involved in teaching the game. Coach Brigid realizes that if you teach skills in a fun way, your team will learn about the game and be successful, even at a young age.”

Brigid says she and her husband, Jason, have been members of the New Tampa Y since about 2003. She began coaching at the Y about three years ago, when her daughter, Sophia, who was five at the time, wanted to play basketball. Now, Brigid’s son, Charlie, is five, and will start playing basketball this summer.

“If you see a coach running around high-fiving everyone,” Cosentino says, “then you are probably watching Brigid coach. She has as much fun as the kids!”

Brigid received the award at the Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA’s Community Impact Dinner on Feb. 27, at TPepin’s Hospitality Centre on N. 50th St. in Tampa, where more than 500 guests were in attendance.