Zwinnen was the Central Football finalist and got the nod for the national award.
He started coaching about five years ago “when the kids wanted to get into sport”, he said.
“I have a Belgian background. We have a reasonably good national team. Football is in our blood, I suppose.
“No one put their hand up to coach my son’s team at Makauri School, so I took it on. After that first year, the family transitioned to the Ngatapa club, and I carried on coaching. I worked my way through it, watching Central Football and YouTube video clips.”
In Belgium he had played youth football — “nothing high level” — but he had always played a little bit “here and there”.
Once he came to New Zealand in 2001 he got more into touch rugby, surfing, basketball and other sports.
And what brought him to Gisborne?
“My dad had been on holiday in New Zealand and he recommended it highly . . . a beautiful place, wonderful people. He said, ‘Go and have a look; you won’t be disappointed’.
“I backpacked around a bit, on a working holiday. I picked apples, helped with shearing in Kaikohe, and pruned trees. I was scrubcutting and fencing on a farm at Ohakune and they said, ‘Have you been to Gisborne yet?’
“Gisborne seemed a bit out of the way, but I hitchhiked over and did a bit of apple-picking for Dave Newlands.
“Through him, I got into a bit of youth work at the skatepark.
“At one of the volunteer carwashes to raise funds for a trip away for the skatepark youth group, I met Adrian Sparks. He was looking for electricians for his company SE Systems, and I happen to be an electrician by trade. Soon after that, I took up a position as an electrician with his company and was there about 14 years.
“Adrian has coached basketball and worked with youth for a long time, and I’ve picked up a lot of wisdom and strategies for coaching youth from him . . . 22 years on, we’ve started coaching the St Mary’s Year 3, 4 and 5 basketball teams together. Adrian has a great way with kids and over the years I’ve pinched a lot of his ideas for my own coaching.”
In Gisborne, Zwinnen met the woman who was to become his wife — Eva (nee Rangikura-Wilson) — and they had the three children who got him into football coaching.
Reuben, 10, Toby, 8, and Sophie, 5, all play.
“This year I was going to coach Reuben’s nine-a-side team, but we didn’t have enough players to make a team at Ngatapa,” Zwinnen said.
“Reuben ended up playing for St Mary’s and Toby ended up in someone else’s team because that’s where his mates were. They were coached by Kahlil Reweti and his assistant, Richie Wilkins.
“Last year Sophie jumped on the field, and she was coached by Georgia Blair.
“I still wanted to be involved so I put my hand up for a seven-a-side Ngatapa team that didn’t have a coach.
“All this made it very interesting, logistically, on Saturdays to try to be at four games — the three games my kids were playing and the one being played by the team I coached. I need to thank team manager Jessica Arthur for her help through that.”
For the past few years, Zwinnen has had great support and collaboration from fellow coaches Reweti and Wilkins in the training of the two Ngatapa seven-a-side teams.
Asked about the appeal of coaching junior footballers, Zwinnen said it lay in seeing their enjoyment when they achieved something, and their excitement when they scored a goal or won a game.
“And I want to say thank you to all the excited, supportive parents we had on the sidelines at Watson Park on Saturdays over the past few years,” Zwinnen said.
“Win or lose, the excitement of the contest is great for us all.
“On the flip side, losing a game or making a mistake can be tough, but those times are also great learning opportunities.
“Every kid has little challenges and achievements along the way, and to see them work through those is the biggest reward for me. As Pele said, it’s not how many times you win; it’s how you play the week after you lose.
“For some players, to come back each time and try again is a big thing . . . it’s about teaching them to never give up but to try again.
“Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the triumph over it. Instilling that in them at such a young age is a key driver for me, so we tried to celebrate all these little milestones like victories.”
When Zwinnen is not at home or on the training ground, he can often be found down the road from Watson Park, working as North Island maintenance manager of wine company Indevin . . . and planning the tactics for whoever his team will face next on the football field.
