Wendy Zwissler Soccer, softball, basketball, tennis, volleyball. Any sport – you name it – Wendy Zwissler can play it. An Illinois native, Zwissler started physical education in kindergarten and continued through 12th grade. “We learned everything from archery to golf,” she says, adding that archery was a little boring because she likes action. It was in fifth grade that she decided she loved PE so much she wanted to teach it. She was fascinated with it. “I like competition, I love to play games, and I like to be outside,” Zwissler said. “And I like the informality of the dress.” Because soccer wasn’t as a big a sport when she was growing up, Zwissler was more active in others, although she says where she lived girls could only compete against other school in badminton and tennis. So she got involved with the Girls Athletic Association for more athletic competition. Zwissler finally got her opportunity to compete in soccer when she was 37 years old. While attending Mt. San Antonio College, she took a soccer class and was recruited for the team. She played there for two years, also playing tennis one season. “Everything I do is sports related,” Zwissler says of her other hobbies which also include fishing, boating, house boating and mountain biking. Every summer, she and her family will make a big trip. “The fishing part isn’t as exciting as falling asleep on the boat,” she says. “If something jerks my line, I’ll wake up.” Zwissler is very close with her three daughters, who still all have dinners together on Sundays. “Family is the most important thing. It ranks way above everything else,” she says. All three of her daughters graduated from ULV and played soccer for her as well. She even coached them at Claremont High School. “We got used to it; it was fun,” Zwissler says. Starting in a part-time coach for three years for both the women’s soccer and tennis teams, Zwissler came on full time in 1992. The women’s soccer team had never won a game before she got here. While her roles as coach and educator are similar, they are different at the same time. “I expect my girls to win,” Zwissler says of her coaching attitude. “My job is to motivate them in a different sense to win. In teaching I motivate them to learn. I would never yell at my class the way I yell at my team. It’s a big difference of playing to learn vs. playing to win.” Zwissler likes coaching at ULV because she gets to meet many new people. “I have the girls for four years for the most part. I get to know them well,” she says. “As opposed to a student for a semester. It’s a different relationship.” She also likes the family-oriented and people-oriented aspects. “If I have my grandson here it’s no big deal. They understand its not just La Verne in my life. There are other things,” she says of the friendly, supportive community. “You don’t see that on other campuses.” Zwissler enjoys living in California in general. “I love it here; I wouldn’t leave,” Zwissler says. Living in Germany for two years when her children were young gave her an appreciation for the states. “It was different. I enjoyed it, but I was glad to come home,” she says. “We got to see Europe; we went everywhere. We saw the Berlin wall still standing. We really got to see a communist country at the time it was still communist.” Athletics did not escape her while she was in Germany. She and her family participated in Volks marches, similar to 10k runs. “One weekend, just to blend in and see things in a different way,” she says of the walk through forests and castles. “You’d climb and walk and at the end sit down and have a feast.” Traveling to various countries, she also had the opportunity to play frisbee at 10 p.m. in Scandinavia, Norway. “We got to see a lot of Europe in a different sense than a tourist,” Zwissler says. “It makes you appreciate the U.S.” RETURN TO FACULTY LISTmailto:zwissler@ulv.edu?subject=HELLOHome.htmlshapeimage_1_link_1
Wendy Zwissler Click on the picture to send an e-mail