Coaching at Woodgrove High School has positively impacted many athletes by supporting their high school and professional career in sports. A good coach has a good point of view on not only athletics, but the personal lives of their athletes. Coaches thoughtfully select athletes they think will better their team and compete on a championship level.
Coach Christine Funk has been coaching Girls Freshman Basketball since 2021. She has expressed her core values as a coach. “Understanding your player, I think making a connection and building a relationship with them, because if you do not have a relationship you aren’t going to click and the team isn’t going to click,” shared Funk. Freshman basketball has gained a reputation as being fun and inclusive. Her understanding as a coach has prepared and exposed freshmen to a new sport.
Inside the training season coaches have to work extra hard to create workouts and prepare their players for events. Cross Country Coach Kathleen Jenkins explained, “I use workouts that I did in high school. I google a workout every once in a while. I’ve coached for a really long time so I’ll pull workouts that they use at different schools. I make up my own workouts. It’s just years of experience and years of doing this.” Coaches have poured their whole lives into the season, and many don’t get to see their own children some nights. Jenkins has also mentioned this setback, “I don’t have a life during the coaching season. My friends make fun of me for it because they won’t see me from August to November. My kids can’t play fall sports because I’m coaching full time, and I don’t see my family till eight at night.”
Coaching also requires passion and experience. Coach Jenkins remarked that she’s a coach because, “I love running, like really love running. I do ultra runs at this point in my life. I have a passion for running and I want to pass that down to kids and at the end of the day they needed a head coach, and I stepped up.” Many coaches have a hard time coaching because they don’t have the passion for the sport. Coach Funk shared “I wanted to become a coach because I played basketball and soccer growing up and I think it’s important to have extracurricular activities, and I want to be able to help the same type of kids further their potential college career.”
Choosing athletes as a coach consists of evaluating each individual to see if they have what it takes to be beneficial to the team. Track and Field coach Todd Turner has shared his opinion on selecting athletes, “We have a standard, distance, and times that we are looking for in athletes, and their physical makeup and athletic talent. A triple jumper can’t be too big or too tall because it’s a lot of stress on the knees. And they’re back as far as that track event. And it’s based on if the athlete is safe doing it or not.”
Turner has also remarked his opinion on injuries in Track and Field, “Injuries are affected by depending on the kind of injury, long term injury or short term. Earlier in the season you can rehab, and in track and field it’s middle to the end of the season where your athletes start to get better. That’s when conferences, regionals, and states are at that time. If it’s a smaller minor injury you just make sure it doesn’t get worse. For major injuries at the beginning of the season, it’s a chance they can come back.” It’s part of a coaches job to create workouts that strengthen their athletes and not injure them.
Bad sportsmanship comes with many athletes and athletic events. In cross country bad sportsmanship looks a little different. Coach Jenkins discussed, “Unfortunately in cross country you have to just deal with it. And if it’s obvious you can take it up with the meet officials/meet director and let them know about it. But with cross country, elbows get thrown, runners get cut off. You gotta just deal with it.” Athletes can have a hard time staying motivated and passionate about their sport. Coach Turner added what he thinks keeps athletes motivated, “Humor is always good, challenging them as far as challenging them against themselves or teammates.”
Coaching has a lot of impact on players and their development. It is also a player’s job to trust the coach and the process. Turner explains what makes a good coach, “Someone that is open minded and listens to the athletes. Somebody that is not afraid to know when they are doing something wrong, ask questions, and don’t think they know everything.”