Playing it Forward Coaching

07/08/2026

A big shoutout to Llara Soderberg, Lynn Merges and Izzy Ungrady and her staff for putting on this very successful Tennis for Kids tournament at Central HS!

For this inaugural event there were 37 participants who all played multiple doubles matches and had a great time with many medals passed out. This program was started by Hank Merges in 1990 and continues to teach countless children the great sport of tennis at no cost.

Since it was the first year on this side of the county we had players from Central, Northeastern, Dover, Springettsbury and West York.

A special thanks goes to Denise Dunn and Lesley Maurer for the sign in and scoring template they provided.

We are looking forward to more teams in this next year as we continue to grow the program.

Thank you to the parents of these amazing young people who encouraged and supported their children in becoming active in this sport of tennis.

07/07/2026

A big shoutout to Llara Soderberg, Lynn Merges and Izzy Ungrady and her staff at Central York High School for putting on a tennis tournament for our Tennis for Kids. Considering it was the first year and set up in less than a week, it went incredibly well with 37 participants!

Due to this being the first year, we had it set for Central, Springettsbury, Dover, Northeastern and West York TFK playing overall. We will be looking for more teams next year since it was successfully launched this year. Well done, TFK team!

A big thank you to Denise Dunn and Lesley Maurer for the excellent tournament template that they provided that assisted this event. Tennis for Kids is going strong since founded by Hank Merges way back in 1990 and supported with so many other wonderful people over the years.

05/25/2026

05/11/2026

From the Locker Room to the Real Life of Entrepreneurship, How Doing Something Hard Everyday Will Allow You to Adapt to That Life

05/06/2026

In just their second year as a team, this group and their great coaches, punched their ticket into the state tournament with Jenny Kramer and Chloe Meador. The grit and determination of all these ladies was very impressive!

04/28/2026

From the Locker Room to Life......

This incredible book of wonderful, mentally tough role models is now available on Amazon and the enclosed stories will certainly encourage others to take similar actions!

The stories include the new Lady Bobcat Wrestling Team; Everest Conqueror, Wendy Gustin Brauneis of Hancock and Northeast PA; Northeastern HS Soccer standouts, Seth Sidle and Evan Jennings; Brian Geller and his tennis and life journey; Tom Kessler, former York College Wrestling Coach and Division three Hall of Fame; Tom Kersting, Nationally renowned expert on the challenges and solutions to the overuse of addictive screens and phones; Jordan Sowers and his overcoming a major challenge from his childhood; Robin Hickey, French teacher extraordinaire and a tribute to my college wrestling Coach, James Howard of Oswego State College, a giant on and off the mat who passed away on February 9th at age 93.

If you choose to get this book, please take a minute or so to post a review. The time and efforts to present great role models such as those here is the result of about 150 hours, no small task.

07/13/2025

A big thank you to Leah Barnes, Samantha Burns, Trish Motter, Jon Urey, Bryan Group, Owen and Levi Beshore, Nick Geller, Xavior Castelli, Vinnie Angelo and Carrie Hatton as their individual stories are very impressive! All of these contributors have shown incredible resilience and mental toughness in their journeys for becoming entrepreneurs.
The kindle/ebook is out and the hardcover and paperback versions is now out as well.
If you want true inspiration with those in the book, use them as role models with ideas, strategies and non-stop persistence for reaching your business goals.

If they can do it, so can you!

07/12/2025

This new book has a number of very successful young entrepreneurs, their incredible stories and I am sure you will enjoy and be inspired by them. If they css an do it, so can you!
For full disclosure, the cover was AI assisted.

12/12/2024

Thank you so much to Brittney Shearer for the book purchase and wonderful Amazon review!