PARENT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Tony Korson
Empowering youth through sports and parenthood
BY LINDSDAY C. VANASDALAN
W “
FAMILY FAVORITES
Family Meal: We like Pizza
Fridays. That’s a favorite
family tradition for us,
whether we cook them or
order them.

Way to Spend a Weekend
with Your Family: Outside
Sport to Play Together:
Soccer TREICHLER PHOTOGRAPHY
Team to Root for: I can
shamelessly plug the new
college baseball team we’re
starting in Olney called the
Crop Dusters.

Vacation Spot: Any beach—
beach, beach, beach.

We got beach kids and
beach parents.

Family Outing in the DMV:
Lone Oak Brewery in Olney
hen you’re an athlete, you think
you’re going to play sports your
whole life,” says Tony Korson,
father of three and founder and CEO
of Koa Sports.

Instead, he turned to coaching and
mentoring the next generation after college.

This work led to Koa Sports, a Bethesda
nonprofit whose mission is shaping kids’ lives
through sports.

The organization strives to provide
accessible instruction for students—whether
they are trying a new sport or seeking
coaching to help earn a spot on a middle or
high school team, Korson says.

“We want to make it fun. I think that’s the
biggest thing. It’s not all about trophies; it’s
not all about winning,” he says. “It’s about
teaching these young boys and girls good
life lessons, values and giving it their all.”
Born and raised in Montgomery County,
Korson now lives in Fallsmead with his wife,
Nikki, and their three children, Manolis (5),
Fotios (2) and Kostas (1).

What do you love about
being a parent?
The best part of being a parent is seeing
their excitement—whether it’s you getting
home from work, whether it’s they’ve
figured out a piece of a puzzle. It’s just
the innocence of how excited they could
be over something as small as a cardboard
box or something as big as a birthday or
Christmas present. I think that’s really
cool just to see how excited and how much
infectious energy they can have.

We pay all of our staff. We encourage parents
to work with their kids outside of Koa
activities, but during the Koa activities, we
try to get them to relax, step back, let them
make mistakes and have the freedom to do
that. That’s something that I like to do with
our kids—try to teach them and give them the
freedom to make good decisions. Sometimes
they do; sometimes they make bad decisions.

That’s OK. You got to tell them, “Next time,
(let’s) not do that again.”
What’s been the
greatest challenge?
I think the most difficult part about being a
parent is you don’t really want to let them
down. It’s like how can you always be there
for your kids? I think that’s not possible,
especially when we have three kids and
they have to go to school, we have to go to
work and we have to watch out for the other
kids. I think that’s really hard, and you don’t
want to let them down. It’s not possible to
be with them 24/7.

How do you balance your career
with family life?
It’s hard. When the kids go down, I’m
working most nights. I’m making sure that
the kids are properly fed for breakfast, have
a lunch before they go to school, being laser-
focused on them and being laser-focused on
work when you’re at work. It’s not scrolling
through social media, not time to catch up
with your buddies. There’s just not enough
time in the day to do that. Focus on your
priorities when you have them. When you
have the kids, give them (your attention) for
the day, and when you’re at work, be laser-
What lessons have you drawn
focused. When they go down, if it’s time to
from Koa that you have applied
get a couple more hours of work in, you got
to your family’s experience?
I think you have to give them enough. You to do it then.

know you have to teach them—give them
enough chances to fail. I think failure is What’s one thing you hope your
super important in life. If you micromanage kids learn from your career?
and hover, they’re never going to learn. Be active forever. It’s OK to run around and
I think that’s one of the things we do well chase a ball—it doesn’t matter if you’re 4, 44
at Koa. We don’t really have parent coaches. or 84. Be active. Be outside. n
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