Skills on and off the field.
Every Wednesday, I will share a resident of the South Bay contributing to making our community a better place.
Today’s WCW title belongs to, Whitney Proctor, who is a coach for the city of Torrance’s youth sport’s program and helps the children grow as individuals.
Whitney, 26, grew up in North Torrance and graduated from North High school in 2007. Today, she is a recreation leader for the city of Torrance. She primarily works in the youth sports program.
The city runs four different sports throughout the year. “We have basketball in the winter time, volleyball through spring, next is dodgeball in the summer and last football in the fall.,” she says. Some of her duties are to referee, score keep or coach whatever game is in need for the particular sport and sometimes it's both.
Whitney, herself, grew up playing for the city in the basketball and softball program (when they had it). She says she loves everything her city has to offer with all the different programs. A typical day begins around 8:30am. She says that they all begin setting up for which ever sport members are working.
During that time, they also find out which court/field they are assigned to and they make sure that the games run smoothly throughout the course of the day. At the end of the day, they make sure to clean everything up.
Her favorite time of the year is volleyball season. She says, “I didn't play it growing up, only at school when I was younger.” Whitney recently got the opportunity to coach her first teams with the city which she has been waiting anxiously to do.
She got two teams because they were short coaches. “The best thing is seeing when the kids get what I'm trying to teach them. You can see in their face when they are able to do what they are trying to do,” she says.
When she is not coaching teams for the city of Torrance, she is busy with school at the Art Institute in North Hollywood for Web design. She also works at California Pizza Kitchen in Rolling Hills as a server. She loves playing softball and taking photography.
She would like to further her coaching to softball and hopes to someday coach for North Torrance Girls Softball League, because that's where she grew up playing her whole life and says she has learned so much there. “I would like to pass on what I know and encourage girls that they can be all that they want to be,” she says.
She says one can help the city by volunteering to coach as they are always in need. “If someone would like to volunteer for our football, basketball or volleyball program, that would be great,” she says.
In five years she hopes to have created some websites and possibly working at a graphic design company. She plans to still work for the city of Torrance.
Whitney’s aunt is her role model. She says that she has a master’s in public administration and works for the city of Long Beach. “My aunt faced all odds to get her degrees and no matter what she did what she had to do to get it. I am determined to get my bachelor’s degree no matter hard it gets to finish getting it. She also has always looked out for me no matter how busy she was.,” she says.
Whitney loves the South Bay mostly for everything is available at her fingertips. “Growing up in the South Bay, I was able to experience many different places and not have to travel to far from home. The beach is practically our backyard- it's sunny and I know where everything is,” she says.
She believes it's important to give back to the city because it helped raise her. “Whenever I go to work at California pizza kitchen or the city,I always see familiar faces. I get to see people I grew up with and keep in touch with them. Torrance offers so much to its citizens and makes it so we don't have to go elsewhere to find what we are looking for. Giving back to me shows pride in my city and where I grew up,” she says.
Thank you, Whitney, for working so hard at helping our youth reach milestones in the sports they love and for allowing them to feel a sense of accomplishment in doing things they love.
“It's an awesome feeling to be a coach or help children gain skills that not only help them on the court/field, but off.”
-Whitney Proctor