Coaching has lit the fire

I found out I love coaching while playing for my travel team called The Maine Mussels.  They are based out of Portland. During the summer I got to travel to tournaments all over the New England area.  We would have practices during the week and the younger group had to practice before the upperclassmen. I would get to help out during the younger kids practice as a goalie coach.  These kids were in the middle school age bracket so they were a lot younger than me. We would do every drill I know like footwork and agility drills along with some hand eye coordination drill and the kids loved it.  Then I got to take shots on then and that really gets them using all their movements. At first I was really surprised how quickly they caught on to all my critiques and they learned really quick. Getting to teach the younger kids everything I know about being a good goalie feels great because sometimes I see myself in these kids shoes and how good I have gotten because I had a goalie coach.  Seeing the kids who want to learn how to get better at my favorite sport has lit the fire inside of me to start learning how to be a coach.

Over the years of playing for the Mussels, I got to meet the goalie coach at the University of New England.  He was my goalie coach for some time and I’ve learned so much from him like new drills and workouts and now I get to teach the younger goalies all the stuff he taught me.  We have a backup goalie this year and I get to coach him while I play. He learns everything I do in a game and he will see my movement and how I communicate with the rest of the team.  During our practices while the rest of the team is doing the passing and shooting, I take the goalies and we go through all our drills. Coaching is a passion of mine because seeing the people I have taught succeed is really great and then they can go in and keep coaching and I get to do all of it while still playing the game I love.

I’ve been playing lacrosse for 11 years now and it has been so much fun.  I’ve played varsity for 4 years now and seeing the younger guys on the jv team and how they want to get better has made me want to start coaching a lot more than I have been. coaching feels great.  I get to give the young guys my knowledge of the game. If it weren’t the UNE coach Chris Richards, I probably wouldn’t be able to coach because I wouldn’t know much. He gave me a spark and then seeing the kids who will step to the ball correctly and who is willing to block a shot no matter what the cost and who want to learn how to be a great goalie finally lit the fire inside me.