TA SK MA ST ERS Teaching,coachingindifferent districtsbringschallenges

By EDDIE CARIFIO |ecarifio@shawmedia.com

For coaches who teach in adifferent district than their coaching gig, a20-minute car ride can serve asurprising number of vital roles.

It’s achance for some to switch out of teaching mode and into coaching mode. It can prepareothers for getting ready to coach high schoolers after teaching elementary students all day. It can be a chance to catch up on some phone calls.

Or it can just be the closest thing to abreak in a 12-plus-hour day.

“SomedaysIget to decompress,”said Kaneland cross country coach Chad Clarey, who’s been an elementary teacher in the Batavia district all 27 years he’s been coaching theKnights. “Some days Iget to reload for the next job, which is coaching. Some days Ihave to connect with someone to getsome closure from the day Ijust had so Ican start the next part of the day.”

Of course, alot of timesacoach is leaving adistrict trying to get to another in time for practice. Those logistics can be messy depending on what time districtslet out, but assistants can make all the difference.

Melanie Chambers, in her eighth year as the head coach for both the boys and girls swim teams for the DeKalb-Sycamore co-op, said ColetteLeBlanc has made things mucheasier all the way around. The assistant coach also teaches science at DeKalb High, giving the coachingstaff apresence in the building Chambers teaches first grade at John Shields Elementary School in Sugar Grove.

With her school getting out 40 minutes after DeKalb High, it’s LeBlanc who starts practices and rides buses to events with the team while Chambers drives herself straight from Sugar Grove.

“Just the busingsituation forcompetitions has been the trickiest piece,” Chambers said. “I typically drive myself to the meets and my assistant coach will ride the bus, or there were acouple seasons we had to findbus riders because Ididn’thave an assistant coach who was able to do that.”

Sycamore softball coach Jill Carpenter has been teaching physical education in Kaneland for 17 years, one month longer than she’s been the head softball

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From page 35 coachatSycamore. She said that for the first decade or so, her entire staff was from outside Sycamore, which created alot of challenges.

She said that since Sarah Chapman came on board as an assistant, things have gotten much less hectic.

“There’s alot more going on with thekidstoday than when Istarted 17, almost 20 yearsago,” Carpenter said. “I’mnot saying kids didn’thave their issues back then, but it’s just trying to keep abetter pulse on how they’re doing academically, how they’re doing with their social-emotionalmental health, having that rapport with social workers or aschool psychologist or just their guidance counselor.”

Like Carpenter,AdamWickness teaches in Kaneland andcoaches at Sycamore, taking over the girls basketball program six years ago. And like Carpenter, he said having an assistant in the district is agame-changer.

For him, that assistant is Wickness’ niece, Meg Cohrs. AKaneland graduate, Cohrs teaches math at Sycamore and is aSpartansassistant.

“They couldpop in between classes and say what’s up,” Wickness said. “It creates abondwiththe entire staff because Coach Cohrs was able to relate to theentire staff different things that were bothering people or we needed to celebrate. It was nice to have an extra set of ears in the school. It’s girls basketball‚ and Coach Cohrs is afemale, and it’s nice to haveanother female you can go to about things. There are some thingshigh school girls aren’t open to sharingwiththeir male high school coach.”

Wickness and Carpenter face an additional wrinkle –the school they teach at and the school they coach at are rivals. Clarey said it’s nice when he sees his former students competing againstKanelandsince, as an elementary school teacher, he’s afew years removed from teaching them.

But Wicknessand Carpenterteach students they’re trying to beat on the field or court afew hourslater,generally speaking in ahigh-stakes game between conference rivals.

“How do you pep up Kaneland when you’re out there, then all of asudden Kaneland’splaying Sycamore?”Wickness said. “Thatwas alittle awkward at first, especially because Icoached for 12 years in Kanelandinthe boys’ program. It just became part of the routine after awhile.”

Carpenter said she doesn’t exactly have the gamesagainst Kaneland circled on her calendar each year.

“They’re not my two most favorite games of the year, that’s for sure,” Carpenter said. “That rivalry existed before Icame along and will exist after Igo. I’ll be honest, Idon’t talk alot about softball with my students.Mostprobably don’trealize Icoach somewhere else. Thesoftball playersIdohappen to teach, we keep it pretty light.”

Carpenter said thearrangement isn’t one that’s afit for everyone.

“I would highly not recommend it,” Carpenter said. “It is very difficult. There’s many more challenges than there are positives about it. It requiresalot of extra helpand planning.Ican’t justwalk to Chauncey [Carrick, Sycamore athletic director]’s office when Ihave something Ineed to talk to him about or aproblem.”

Clarey said he’s felt blessed to coach at Kaneland and teach in Batavia for the past three decades.

“My primary responsibility is being the best first grade teacher Ican be for the students of Grace McWayne School, where Iteach,” Clarey said. “That is my primary roleinthiswhole thing. Making sure Ihave everything done, everything is ready and prepared for a full day of first grade every day.”