DC United honors coach Pablo Amaya

DC United, Washington’s professional soccer team, named coach, entrepreneur, and community activist Pablo Amaya as a Raise a Toast honoree.

The DC United Foundation recognized 12 “influential local leaders who demonstrate a commitment to promoting service and justice to the community” in its latest Raise a Toast cohort.

The foundation will celebrate the honorees at an exclusive dinner on Nov. 12 and will donate $1,000 to a nonprofit of their choosing. Amaya’s donation will support ACCA (the Annandale Christian Community for Action).  

Amaya, a former professional soccer player, is the performance strength and conditioning coach for D.C. United and the assistant coach for the men’s soccer team at Marymount University.

He owns RAMP Optimal Performance & Wellness, a fitness studio in Annandale that focuses on personal training.

Amaya believes in the importance of community service and engaging youths in sports as a way to deter them from crime.

He is an active volunteer with D.C. United’s community relations efforts, the ACCA Child Development Center, and programs for at-risk students. Pablo received the Fairfax County Civilian of the Year Award in 2019 for his volunteer efforts.

He helps student athletes – starting in middle school – prepare for college and apply for sports scholarships. He provides free training for those students and helps them prepare for the SAT. About a dozen of them are now in college with full scholarships, including an Annandale High School graduate on the track team at the University of Ohio.

Amaya hosts clinics at Marymount for youths and free sessions at RAMP where professional and college athletes from various sports discuss how they became successful. Sometimes those sessions lead to one-on-one mentorships.

He also works with the Fairfax County Police Department’s Victim Services Division, bringing athletes to talk to kids affected by violent crimes.

Next summer, Amaya plans to host workshops for kids to encourage them to play sports and to consider college as a viable option, even if they’ve never thought about it before.

“We want to reach those kids in middle school – when they start getting in trouble,” he says. “Building relationships early on allows us to have better connections. High school is often too late.”