In celebration of Women this March, we had the privilege of speaking with Aria Ludtke, the Youth Sports Director at the Mill Creek YMCA. With a passion for coaching and a dedication to empowering others, Aria has built a career around fostering growth in both youth athletes and volunteer coaches. In our conversation, Aria shared insights into her journey into sports, the challenges she’s faced as a woman in the industry, and her commitment to creating more opportunities for women in sports. Aria’s story is a powerful reminder of the importance of perseverance, confidence, and community in both sports and life.
SCSC: Tell me a bit about your current role and what you enjoy the most about it?
ARIA: Currently, I am the youth sports director at the Mill Creek YMCA. It’s a very wide scope role I’m in charge of all the youth sports programs in this branch. We serve over 3,500 kids just out of the Mill Creek area, amongst five different sports. My duties range from setting up the league information, teams’ recruitment, organizing, recruiting, and training volunteers, as well as recruiting and training staff, referees and coordinators. There is also a fundraising piece that comes with working in nonprofit, and we offer financial assistance. My favorite part is recruiting volunteer coaches and getting to put my love of coaching into volunteers and seeing them grow and flourish in those roles is very rewarding.
SCSC: What was your journey into this industry like and what inspired you to pursue a career in this field?
ARIA: I grew up on Whidbey Island, which is a very small community, and I went to a small high school, so I kind of had to play all the sports. When I got to college, I started coaching volleyball and loved it. It was one of the most challenging but rewarding jobs I’d ever had. All my jobs throughout college were related to recreation, like working at campus rec or working at the Bellingham parks and rec. I went through the recreation program at Western Washington, and once I graduated, I began working at the Bellingham/Whatcom YMCA, running their sports program and it felt like a really good mesh of all my skills. That led me to take on the director role here in Mill Creek. It wasn’t until I got into this role that I realized how few women there are working in sports. I’m very passionate about trying to increase our female participation and trying to create more opportunities them.
SCSC: As a woman in sports, what challenges have you faced, if any, and how have you overcome them?
ARIA: One of the biggest challenges is that I really have to work hard to earn the trust and respect of everybody in the room, versus my male sports coworkers, basically have respect given to them. It pays off down the road, but initially that work has to be put in in order to receive respect and for them to listen to me. Also, in youth sports, we have a lot of incidents with parents being ridiculous and I have to approach those situations differently as a director in charge than my male peers would, because a grown man screaming at referee is not going to listen to me scream right back at him.
SCSC: Do you have any mentors or role models that have helped you in the industry?
ARIA: When I was working in Intramurals at Western Washington University, my boss Lucy was my first female boss in sports, and she taught me a lot about how to build a strong team and how to lead with your personality. Also like my boss here at Mill Creek is a super strong leader and advocate. She is really good at getting things done, working with people, and asking the right questions to get things through the pipeline. I really respect her.
SCSC: What is your greatest achievement in your career so far?
ARIA: I think the most recent proud moment I had was the last girls flag football clinic we ran. It was so cool to be in such a female dominated space in a sport that has never been that way. Seeing the volunteer and community support was really cool. Sometimes in the role, we can become desensitized to all the big sports moments because they happen every day, but it’s fun to experience the gratification in others who don’t experience this every day.
SCSC: What skills or qualities have been crucial to your success?
ARIA: Leadership and communication skills have been a really big. I also have to be my most confident self almost all the time. So much of this job comes down to relationship building and confidence building.
SCSC: In your opinion, how important is the presence of sports in the lives of youth?
ARIA: I think sports are so important. I think sports are the baseline of teaching kids how to build relationships and how to make connections, how to lose, how to fail, and how to deal with their emotions. It teaches them how to work hard, work in a team, and so many other life skills that they aren’t going to learn on their own. Sports is a great way to teach them. I’ll ask my coaches in meetings “What’s the most important thing about sports?”, and none of them ever talk about sports skills, it always life lessons. I think that says a lot about the impact of sports.
SCSC: What advice would you give to young women aspiring to work in the sports industry?
ARIA: It’s okay to be yourself and do things your way, even if that might be different than the people around you do it. It’s okay to ask for help when you need it. You don’t have to be on an island by yourself. Being a woman in sports can be a lot, but it’s also extremely rewarding.
SCSC: What do you guys have coming up at the Mill Creek YMCA?
ARIA: We always need volunteer coaches, and we also have summer sports coming up. I would also love to hire some more female referees!
Summer Sports and Referee Job Opportunities at Mill Creek YMCA!
Get ready for an incredible summer of sports and athletic development! Mill Creek YMCA Sports Program is offering summer sports clinics in volleyball, basketball, flag football, track and field, soccer, and pickleball. They are now accepting registrations for spring T-ball and coach pitch programs for ages 3-17.
They are actively recruiting referees, with a special focus on increasing female representation in our officiating team.
To volunteer as a referee, apply through this link: https://secure4.saashr.com/ta/6148175.careers?ShowJob=772044938
To sign up for a summer clinic, visit this link: https://snoco.recliquecore.com/sports/
Facebook: YMCA of Snohomish County Sports
Instagram: @SNOCOSPORTSYMCA