February 2013 Coach of the Month

  1. Updates

Crystal Massenburg is Playworks Durham’s February Coach of the Month. Crystal is a first year coach at Merrick-Moore Elementary School.  Crystal’s always enthusiastic personality, ability to bring a ton of energy to every training and event and her go-getter attitude is why she is our February Coach of the Month.

Coach Crystal has put in a lot of extra time and energy into creating a very high functioning recess for her students and staff. Because of this, Merrick-Moore Elementary is a terrific example for funders and neighboring school districts to see our program in action.

You will always find students engaged in numerous game stations, both genders playing together and students solving disputes with the simple game of ro-sham-bo.

Coach Crystal’s school is also a host site for our Tuesday Night Girls’ Basketball league. Coach has stepped up to help coordinate the league  and has provide extra opportunities to engage the school.

She helped her PTA coordinate the selling of snacks and worked with the 5th grade teachers to run a 50/50 raffle to help raise money for the 5th grade class. She also played a huge role in coordinating performances by the cheerleading team, the African drum club and the dance team for the half-time shows. She did all of this while an amazing coach to her own 4th and 5th grade girls’ basketball team.

If that wasn’t enough, Coach Crystal has also taken the lead in planning the March AmeriCorps service project for her fellow AmeriCorps members. She is always going above and beyond her regular school duties.  We congratulate you Coach Crystal, with a big ol’ WHOOSH CLAP, because your energy and dedication is absolutely infectious!

Get to Know Coach Crystal:

Favorite Game: Four Square

Favorite Cheer: Who Rocks the House

Favorite thing about Durham: all of the community festivals and carnivals that take place to bring everyone together

If you could have any super power what would it be and why? My super power would be the ability to fly so I could get around faster.

More Updates


Playworks Coach with Junior Coaches
Playworks Coach with Junior Coaches

July 3, 2023

Playworks North Carolina Rebranded as Playworks Southeast ›

We’re proud to introduce Playworks Southeast! We have the same mission and will be utilizing our over 25 years of experience of leveraging play to impact more kids and communities…

March 30, 2023

Empowered youth to community leaders ›

The importance of youth leadership programming in elementary schools Childhood is spent brimming with fascinations of the future – ideas of what infinite potential can amount to, ambitions of fulfilling…

January 10, 2023

Understanding the Complex Simplicities of Play ›

Play is a behavior that is natural and has existed for thousands of years and across species. It combines a set of made-up rules or norms and a willingness to…