Beyond the surface

Acoach is defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as “one who instructs or trains.” Coaching is much more complicated than that, however. It is a subjective matter. It’s an art, a form of training and it teaches real-life skills. It is time-consuming and requires a lot of patience, according to math teacher and football coach

Benjamin Wyss.

“Part of being a teacher is teaching lifeskills,” said Wyss. “I teach math, sure. But what I’m really teaching is time-management skills, accountability skills, communication skills, teamwork skills — all those skills I emphasize in my class [are the] same skills I emphasize while I am coaching, that will be required to be successful later in life.”

However, as much as coaching envelopes life-skills and exposure to new environments, it can be incredibly difficult to manage from a coach’s standpoint, expressed by both Amanda Howard, math teacher and volleyball coach, and Wyss.

“I admire all of [the coaches] for the time-commitment that I know they put in, because it’s so much more than just during the season,” said Howard. “For volleyball, we’re here every day in summer, and when we’re here, we see soccer outside, and football. I think anyone willing to put in the time to coach a high school sport, and putting in so many more hours than you’re expected to do, [is admirable].”

Wyss similarly stated that the time-consumption of coaching is extensive. Coaching seemed to cause sacrifices in other aspects of his life, such as his own family.

“[My least favorite part about coaching] is the amount of time it takes away from my family, especially football...and even when I go home, I continue working,” says Wyss. “The number of times I had to tell my kids ‘no.’ It was every day for almost six months.”

Across the board, no matter the sport, coaches seem to agree that the best part about the job is creating relationships with athletes. Nathan Warnecke, a science teacher as well as a track and cross-country coach, speaks of his experience with students across the sports background.

“Track has exposed me to a lot of different athletes, and of course, a lot of other sports,” said Warnecke. “We have football players, soccer players, we have basketball players, swimmers, wrestlers, and on the girls’ side of things, basketball players, swimmers, volleyball players. We have some players that track and field is the only sport that they do.”

Matt Poisel, a math teacher as well as a baseball coach, agreed, but also loves having the opportunity to get to know the coaches on staff during and outside of baseball season. “I love to watch the players grow and get better and to have fun,” said Poisel. “All the coaches too, we’re really really close, and our families spend time together outside of baseball. We have group texts for people’s birthdays, and we are really close.”

The relationships within each coaching circle seemed to be a common denominator across each sport. Howard and Wyss both expressed their relationships with the other coaches as something that was just necessary for coaching to work.

“We have group chats, we hang out frequently, we know each other’s families really well, and even our wives have a club called ‘The Coaches’ Wives Club,’ and our kids know each other well,” said Wyss. “We bring the players into that circle a little bit, and invite them to dinner at our house, but the coaches definitely are close, and we probably spend more time together than I do with the teachers in my own department.”

Howard was equally enthused with the other coaching staff and agrees that families are close within their little group of volleyball coaches.

“Of course, we have a group chat, in fact, we have multiple group chats, and we are close outside of practice and have get-togethers at each other’s house,” said Howard. “I think that it is normal for coaches to be close here, and just knowing other coaches here is extremely beneficial.”

Each coach got into their sport in a slightly different way, some through experience, some through friendships and some through trying to get out of other obligations. Warnecke got into coaching because it was his past experience.

“I was a track athlete through junior high, high school, and college,” he said. “Then I started coaching at my old high school back in 2003. It’s the sport I am most comfortable with, and I have the most knowledge about,” he said.

Similarly, Poisel and Howard also played their sport throughout their own high school days, but Howard got into coaching because her father was a coach and it was a torch that was passed to her. Meanwhile, Poisel got into coaching through his friend Matt Cherry, head coach of the varsity baseball team.

“I actually started umpiring baseball when I was in high school and college, plus my first couple years here. Then, I would always be talking baseball with Coach Cherry,” said Poisel. “Something about wanting to be getting back into competing, versus umpiring and not just working at the game, led me to get onto the coaching staff with Coach Cherry.”

While Howard did start playing volleyball early, and it is a familiar sport to her, she does not coach just because of its familiarity. She is not the first coach in her family, and she long before fell in love with the sport.

“I always played volleyball. I played in high school; I played in college,” said Howard. “Then it just became like, when I was going into teaching, my first job happened to have a coaching position open, so it just kind of happened that way. My dad was a basketball coach, so it just runs in the family.

Wyss, however, got into football, and eventually coaching, because of his responsibilities to his family, as he was growing up.

“So, I grew up on a farm. Farm is my whole life. Every minute of every day. That’s why I loved coming to school—because I couldn’t work on the farm if I was at school,” said Wyss. “And then there were sports programs after school, and I learned that I could miss even more farming if I did those. So, I joined every sports program that was offered in my school. I did it all just because I wanted to get away from working on the farm.”

Coaching is more than yelling at players to get better. Each coach has their own motives and their own background experiences that got them into coaching. Each coach has inspirations and they have different goals. Behind every coach is a story ready to be told and heard.