A few weeks ago I had to say some goodbyes. After fourteen
years of coaching high school sports, I had to bid farewell to my players,
fellow coaches, and Athletic Directors. With all of life’s ups and downs, the
one constant for me was coaching. Aside from spending time with my family, I
can easily say the time I spent on the court or the field was the best part of
my day. There were certainly stressful times but I always knew that even a bad
day coaching was a good day. I loved working with the high school athletes and
watching them grow as players and as young women. In my final year of coaching,
I had two different coaching positions. The first was as a Head Volleyball
Coach. It was my first season at this particular school and though I felt it
was a rebuilding year, the team actually had one of their best seasons ever.
The players were so eager to learn and willing to play their part that they
made it easy for me. When I announced to the team that I would not be
returning, there wasn’t a sound in the room. It was a rather sudden decision
for me as and one I truly struggled with. I didn’t want to leave this team or
program with so much potential. (I decided to relocate to another state.) In
the spring, I was the Assistant Lacrosse Coach at a different high school. I
have been there since the inception of the varsity program in 2009. I saw many
players enter the program as young freshmen and learn the game and become
amazing athletes and set school records. I struggled with how to say farewell
to them. There were twelve seniors graduating and I did not want to take away
from their awards dinner but I knew I couldn’t leave without saying good-bye.
There is an amazing group of sophomores and juniors that I will miss coaching
and in the future. I was humbled to hear them say that they would keep in touch
with me and I will definitely follow their season next year. So to my players, I thank you so much for the
opportunity to coach you and guide you and be there for you. You definitely
gave more to me than I could ever put into words and I consider myself lucky to
have known you all.
