‘Had to do something.’ Waterford athletic director resigns to help efforts in Ukraine
Joshua Whitfield quit his job to help those in need, more than 6,000 miles away.
The former Waterford High School athletic director and girls basketball coach resigned to help the Ukrainian people after the country was invaded by Russia in February.
The school’s principal and vice principal will act as interim athletic directors until the position is filled.
A former Army sergeant, 34-year-old Whitfield said he helped form an independent team of five military-trained individuals from the United States and the United Kingdom who knew of one another but hadn’t met.
On Feb. 24, they began texting and talking about the invasion, he said, and as events continued to unfold, they decided to act. They formed a plan and executed it in about two weeks.
“A lot of stuff came together quickly,” Whitfield said. “We have been blessed with tremendous early support.
“There’s an old saying: ‘You could take the soldier out of the army but you can’t take the army out of the soldier.’”
Whitfield helps provide resources with assistance from American Veterans First, a nonprofit organization in Riverbank. Those in need are provided with mass casualty trauma kits, along with food, feminine hygiene products and first aid supplies. They also take solar powered battery generators so the Ukrainian people can run their phones, computers and have light.
They work to pass out supplies at aid stations, train stations and in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
“We have permission from the Ukrainian Consulate here in San Francisco to go there,” said American Veterans First founder and Marine Corps veteran Duke Cooper. “We give them diapers and baby wipes. We’re delivering aspirin or Tylenol or whatever they want. We’re delivering first aid kits, mass casualty kits. We’re taking families out of Ukraine into Poland to get them out of harm’s way.
“They are so excited to see us. These people are wonderful. They appreciate the fact we’re there.”
Whitfield said his first mission in Ukraine was nine days. After supplies ran out, the Stanislaus County native returned home March 22, spent a week restocking, and left again for another trip March 30. Cooper said all trips are funded by donations.
“It’s a planned seven-day trip, but it’s an active war zone with a dynamic battle space,” Whitfield said. “We have refundable and transferable tickets in case we need to adjust.”
Those working with Whitfield and American Veterans First are not there to help fight the Russian army, their goal is to help the people of Ukraine. But in an active war zone, that doesn’t mean they don’t see the damage being done on a daily basis.
“Our crew was in Kyiv and there were hundreds of bodies that had been assassinated,” Cooper said. “Hands tied behind their back, pregnant women, children. ... It’s disgusting.”
Cooper said he will join them on the next trip in mid-April. He expects the products they take will last eight to 10 days. “And then we’ll come back and replenish.” Cooper said.
Whitfield said there have been two teams rotating in and out of the country, providing aid wherever they can and the process of putting together a third team is already underway.
“We have had a continual presence of the ground since our first trip,” Whitfield said. “We intend to continuously rotate until funding dries up. We are all committed to helping these folks out. We are in it with them to the very end.”
It wasn’t an easy decision
On March 12, Whitfield announced on Twitter that he would resign his Waterford job, saying he “can’t sit back & watch anymore”. He felt he had to act.
He was in his seventh year as Waterford’s athletic director and was proud of the strides the school has made. The football team, specifically, had just posted a 10-2 record and beat Summerville 48-25 in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.
As the girls’ basketball coach, he led the Wildcats to the playoffs in four of his seven seasons.
Then, suddenly, a more urgent task came calling.
He posted a picture with his statement at 6:29 p.m. He ended it with this: “Evil prevails only when good people sit back and do nothing. I cannot sit back & do nothing any longer. #SlavaUkraini #istandwithukraine”
The school’s WHS Sports Network account sent out a tweet about 40 minutes later.
“First and foremost, I saw a kinship with the Ukrainians who I fought alongside in the war on terror.” Whitfield said. “These guys were there for us 10, 20 years ago and we really felt an obligation to be there for them.
“On an individual level, there’s a lot of us that felt we had to do something to give back to these folks.”
Whitfield knew what he would be giving up: the comfort of his home, time with his wife and time with the Waterford High sports community, one he spent so much time helping build back up.
“It was very difficult on an emotional level … that’s my sanctuary,” Whitfield said. “Just being there with my troops – I call my players my troops because I’m a military guy – and being in that environment is very emotionally difficult to give up, and only a coach or an AD would really understand how difficult that decision is.”
Waterford Athletics is succeeding
Whitfield helped revive the athletics program at Waterford High.
Whitfield and the Waterford community poured into the students and they have seen the results. Participation and player retention numbers are up across all sports and more coaches return for multiple seasons instead of having a “revolving door” of head and assistant coaches leading teams.
Whitfield doesn’t want all of the credit.
“That’s the coaches around me, that’s the parents buying into what we’re trying to do here, that’s the teachers buying in,” he said. “The whole community really bought in.”
As a coach who preaches that his players “master their craft”, Whitfield said he felt he no longer could continue to serve as athletic director while a much different calling was tugging on his heart.
“It’s hard to give up something that you’re not ready to give up and leave, not necessarily on your own terms,” he said. “I certainly wasn’t intending to resign this year.
“I hope I’m setting an example for them. Sometimes you have to roll hard six and pick a priority and go with that, and you can’t do everything. … In my decision to go to Ukraine, I was no longer in a position to be a good servant to the Waterford sports community and it was time to have to give it up.”
