Coaching Of-Court

COACHING OFF-COURT

Athletes see coaches’ mentorship extended beyond sports

Timothy Bui, Katya Dubinin, Collin Fan

Varsity girls’ volleyball team captain Abby Minin ’23 glances at the scoreboard: 25-24. The pressure is on—a two-point advantage will determine the winner of this match. In order to get his players in the zone, head coach Timothy Crow blows his whistle for a timeout.

In the span of 30 seconds, Crow reevaluates the team’s plays and communication, reminding his players to embrace the moment with confdence as they head back to the court. As the ball sails over the net onto her team’s side, Minin is confdent her team will walk away from the court with victory in their hands.

From sophomore to senior year, Minin has played on the volleyball team under Crow’s mentorship. Like other athletes, her coach’s advice during practices and games has carried over into her life both inside and out of the volleyball court.

“Something that really stuck with me that Crow said is the idea that whether it’s the playofs or just a conference game, pressure is a privilege,” Minin said. “I think I’ve carried a little bit of that with me into everything I do, such as standardized testing, which is a really high stakes moment for a lot of us.”

Along with giving advice on topics from academics to socialization, coaches play a role in encouraging wellness practices in an athlete’s daily life. With a busy game schedule this season, Crow has set practices to end earlier so that players have time to stretch and decompress—a decision Minin believes has helped to instill self-care habits in life of the court.

“This season, Crow has really checked in with us about how we’re doing,” Minin said. “The coaches show that they want us to take care of ourselves even if it’s not part of our routine on our own.”

Minin says her connection with Crow has strengthened over her years on the

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of Stevenson coaches are full-time staf

Coach Timothy Crow and the varsity girls’ volleyball team do their team chant at the end of a timeout. By expressing a composed attitude, Crow keeps his team calm and focused during games.

Varsity football head coach Brent Becker meets with his team during a game. Becker communicates with his large team by relaying feedback and advice through student leaders.

team. Now as a senior and captain, she works closely with him to relay expectations and values to younger players. Underclassmen like Anastasia Bunescu ’25—who plays on the sophomore volleyball team under head coach Sydney Hendricks—also believes coaches teach lessons applicable to both the sport and to daily life.

“Hendricks was trying to teach us that a lot of the time you ha e to break stuf down in order to fnally et it ri ht in the end,” Bunescu said. “We’ve done different drills for smaller parts of certain things that we need to do.”

By playing on a relatively small team, Bunescu has more interactions with her head coach than do athletes in larger teams, who often work with trainingspecifc coaches. arsity football team “huddle leader” Remy Herrejon ’23 meets often with head coach Brent Becker to relay goals to other players, but he explains that many younger athletes often end up closer to their trainingspecifc coach instead of ecker.

“At least for football, there’s so many players that it’s so hard for one coach to personally have a good bond with all of these guys,” Herrejon said. “For most of the guys on the team, their relationship with Becker is not as prominent.” Becker explains that his close bonds with the “huddle leaders” were built up from years of daily interactions— connections that are less prominent with the underclassmen on his team. With 92 out of 213 coaches fully employed as teachers and staf at te enson coaches

like Becker, who teaches in the physical education department, often strengthen their bonds with athletes in classes or in the hallways. “If you spend time with a student all year long, you can really get to know them,” Becker said. “They can get to know us and know what we’re all about, and we’ll try to be the right role model for them.” After their athletes graduate, coaches often share their contact information and occasionally meet up with their former athletes to stay connected. Becker enjoys following his athletes’ progress as they move on to college athletics and beyond. “I have former athletes and players that I coached in 1999 that I still stay in touch with on a pretty regular basis,” Becker said. “If you’re really good at what you do, and you develop relationships with students, you get to see how they grow up.” According to Becker, building trust through creating personal connections with players re ects in better performance on the feld. Minin adds that an encouraging community helps ensure each player has a contributing role to the team’s success—a principle she always If you spend time with a student all year long, you can really get to strives to maintain. “It’s leadership positions in clubs or extracurriculars, or even just in the know them. classroom setting, that should make Varsity football coach Brent Becker everyone feel like they have something to brin to the table Minin said. try to carry that into other aspects of my life just fndin ways to make every individual feel valued, while also promoting a culture that really celebrates community.”