When girls soccer player Lucy Lowman thinks she’s not playing well during a game, she looks to her coach for guidance on ways to improve or stop overthinking. Unfortunately, the team’s coach of three years has left the school, leaving plans for the next season uncertain.
“With a new coach, it’s really hard to be honest about [those struggles],” Lowman said. The next girls soccer coach will be the fourth head coach in the past six years. But this program is not alone in facing a revolving door of coaching staff.
During varsity swimmer Ben Lee’s two years on the Trojans swim and dive team, he has had two different coaches. In the past four years of the Trojans there have been three coaches who have joined and left. He describes former assistant coach Stacy Overgaard’s move to head coach as “refreshing,” after the previous head coach left abruptly in the middle of last season. “She’s probably the reason why I’m still swimming with the team,” Lee said.
He believes maintaining a relationship with a coach provides consistency that is vital for athletes, both physically and mentally.
“[They’re] like a stable pillar in your sport that you can rely on and talk to when you’re struggling, or even when you’re succeeding,” he said.
Meanwhile, coach Max Lundgren is a constant figure at SPA. He has served as a Nordic coach for seven years, as well as a soccer and tennis coach for the past five. He echoes Lee’s vision of his responsibility as a coach to help his athletes through hardship. “If they have someone that’s been consistently in support of them that entire time, that’s seen them when they’re at their best and seen them when they’re struggling,” Lundgren said, “I think it helps them have a broader perspective on any struggles they have, and get through them and have a positive view of sport as a whole.”
One simple yet powerful moment illustrates his understanding of his role as a coach. Working with a senior who was just learning to ski, he remembers watching them learn how to glide on the skis, and “the amount of joy that he had was so incredible that it made me feel that joy kind of vicariously through him,” he said.
The boys varsity soccer team is one example of the impact of consistent coaching on a team’s success. BVS player Lucas Granja appreciates the individual relationships his coach, Max Lipset, has
cultivated and notes this difference from his club team, where he has a different coach every year.
“[Max] wants to win more … he cares more about our skills, and so he wants to think about what we need to improve, like in the offseason too,” Granja said, “having him be our coach for so long has helped him get to know us, and think of strategies that work best for the individual playing styles.”
As the initial shock of losing her coach has passed, looking to the future, Lowman hopes the next GVS coach will take the time to get to know the team and avoid making any drastic changes.
“I just hope that they support us inside and out,” she said. While consistent coaching is just one of
many factors that affect players’ performances, a close relationship with a coach can make-or-break an athlete’s experience.
