The lives of the dozens of coaches who run the school’s 42 sports teams are filled with planning practices, scouting opponents and preparing for games. And if the demands of coaching were not enough, for those who double as teachers there are always their day jobs to keep them on their feet.
While the dynamics of the classroom might differ from those of a fast-paced game, the two are stil intertwined, as boys varsity basketball head coach, history and anthropology teacher Dan Hale explains.
“I approach it both ways,” Hale said. “I approach coaching as a teacher and in a lot of ways I approach teaching as a coach, you know, trying to inspire”
Girls freshman basketball assistant coach and English teacher Lindsey Hardenberg also sees a strong connection between coaching and teaching.
“Being able to do something successful in the classroom directly relates to teaching someone a concept on the basketball court,” Hardenberg said. “And I think the cool thing about coaching is that the players in some ways have more voice.”
Head coach of the varsity football team and WAT teacher George Masten also believes that many of the lessons a coach teaches can apply in the classroom as well.
“Teaching those kids to intrinsically motivate, to find something within themselves, to motivate themselves to achieve whatever it is—it’s the same thing on the field and in the classroom, so that’s something that’s very cohesive between the two worlds,” Masten said.
Coaches have also seen themselves grow and develop through their experiences of coaching and teaching.
“When I was younger, I was a lot more end result–oriented … it was a lot more ’let’s win,’” Hale said. “The older I’ve gotten the more I see winning is great, but it’s also about realizing the potential.”
Hardenberg has also seen a change in her own tone: teaching and coaching have taught her to “be less long-winded, it’s taught me to be sharper and more specific and just to get my coach voice out.”
For the many benefits that the coaches identified in their work, they also identified several challenges, and if there was one challenge that persisted with all the coaches, it was the time commitment.
“Just finding a happy medium and a balance between being able to say, ‘this time it’s football time, this time it’s school time and career, and this time is home time’ is the challenging part,” Masten said