When no one else stepped forward to fill the void, John Mingus made a one-season commitment to coach his young daughter’s Arlington Soccer Association recreation girls team.
Now, 25 years later, Mingus, 59, is still coaching recreation soccer teams in the league.
Last Saturday, April 11, the North Arlington resident reached a big milestone when he coached his 1,000th game, all recreation matches, for Arlington youth soccer.
The afternoon match was played on the main field at Yorktown High School, resulting in a close loss for the girls high-school-age team he coaches.
Mingus’ 999th game was played earlier that day on the Oak Grove Park field, when his fourth-grade girls Lightning squad also lost by a close score.
“The teams played well in both games,” Mingus told ARLnow.
Mingus is coaching two teams during the spring season. He’s often coached multiple teams during the spring and fall seasons. Over the years, Mingus has coached 127 different teams — mostly girls, but some boys — from kindergarten to high-school age.
Mingus said he was hesitant to accept his first coaching assignment back in 2001, because he had little or no previous experience coaching the sport. But he quickly learned.
Mingus believes he has coached games on all 35 outdoor rectangular soccer fields available to the Arlington Soccer Association. But he has no idea what his overall win-loss record might be. “Can’t even provide a ballpark figure,” he said.
Mingus’s teams have won various championships over the years, but that’s not the reason he continues to coach.
“I’m very grateful for the partnerships to make this happen,” Mingus said. “The biggest thing is almost all of our players over the years have returned to our teams the next seasons because they enjoyed the experience.”
In addition to Arlington Soccer Association matches, Mingus has coached a couple of hundred indoor contests during the winter season.
Mingus said the itch to keep coaching came at about the halfway mark of that first season when coaching the first-grade team of his daughter, Emily. (She’s now 32 years old.)
“About midway through the season coaching that first team, it became really fun. I was really enjoying it and wanted to continue, and I believed it was something I would enjoy continuing to do,” Mingus said.
Mingus did continue, and began getting different coaching licenses to improve his trade. Mingus also coached his other daughter, Amanda’s, teams, and later served as an assistant coach under Emily for five seasons when she became old enough to coach.
Going forward, Mingus has no plans to stop coaching anytime soon. He has a 3-year-old grandson and wants to begin coaching him in the next couple of years.
“I have no plans to retire,” Mingus said. “With the experience I have, I like to keep working with and developing players.”
Mingus has been awarded for his dedication to coaching over the years. He was named National Volunteer of the Year by U.S. Youth Soccer in 2022, received the Arlington Soccer Impact Award and has been inducted into the Arlington Soccer Hall of Fame.
Also, Mingus currently is the club manager of the Northwest Lions, the largest club in the Arlington Soccer Association.
“I love volunteering, because I believe strongly in Arlington Soccer’s mission,” Mingus said. “I believe Arlington rec soccer is an incredible program.”
In addition to coaching, Mingus played scads of pickup soccer games growing up, then on intramural teams in college. He has now competed in an adult soccer league for 16 years.
Mingus and his wife, Carolyn Yocom, are season-ticket holders for D.C. United and Washington Spirit.
Yocom has also helped Mingus coach and work with many teams.
“I couldn’t do this without her,” Mingus said.
