Gary Vinciguerra, a Shamong resident for 25 years as well as chairman of the planning board, has been a defensive backs coach with Widener University for the last four years.
On Saturday, June 22, Vinciguerra had the opportunity to coach another group of young men, veterans of the United States Navy.
“I was very inspired to coach these great young veterans on the football field,” Vinciguerra said. “They are the very best in defending our country and what it stands for.”
As part of its military appreciation night, the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League held an exhibition game between veterans of the Army and Navy on June 22.
In an effort to help improve veterans’ employment rates and raise awareness, Marty Judge, a minority owner of the team and CEO of The Judge Group staffing firm, put together a job fair for veterans with more than 30 employers that took place before the game.
“The job fair was what was most important at the event. So many veterans that return from active duty cannot find a job to come home to,” Vinciguerra said. “When the Soul told me that was part of the events for the day I was blown away and just very impressed.”
Donna Clementoni, public relations and communications coordinator for The Judge Group, was impressed with Vinciguerra’s dedication to the team and the event itself.
“He was such an inspiration. He was doing it for all the right reasons,” Clementoni said.
Each team consisted of dozens of veterans or active-duty officers from either the Army or Navy. Though many of the players attended military academies, it was not a requirement to participate.
Teaching the players arena football was the first challenge Vinciguerra and his staff were faced with.
“It’s a very different game. Myself and the other coaches were going in not really knowing anything about the arena game,” Vinciguerra said.
“Our first practice definitely was a bit of the blind leading the blind.”
Having the opportunity to practice was another challenge in itself.
The Navy team had a group of players living in Annapolis, Md., and a separate group in Norfolk, Va. Only once was the entire team able to practice together.
“We knew going in that we would be underdogs. We hadn’t practiced much together, our guys were still learning the game and Army already had an established arena team,” Vinciguerra said.
Despite their self-proclaimed underdog status, the Navy veterans defeated Army 40–38 in a thrilling game that wasn’t decided until the last play of the game. Vinciguerra was excited to escape with the win.
“We had an amazing group of guys that played hard. We let them up and they got back in it. In arena ball you can’t do that because offenses just score so quickly,” Vinciguerra said.
From the job fair to the game itself, Vinciguerra thought the entire day was a success and is already talking about next year.
“The whole event was off the charts, just a phenomenal day,” Vinciguerra said. “I’m excited to continue my involvement going forward.”
