Found My Whistle

….Or I Found My Shrill

One of the best ways I have found to make myself a part of my school community as a teacher is to become a sports coach or a club sponsor, preferably for me as a coach.  This started for me during my first teaching job. Well, actually before my first teaching job when I was an assistant coach for the junior varsity and varsity boys’ basketball teams.  The next year, I was hired as a full-time teacher at the middle school to coach the boys’ basketball team and the track and field teams. While being at such a small school, teachers were obligated to coach at least one sport outside of the classroom.  The following year, I moved back to Orlando to teach middle school. A school tot the time, there was an opportunity to coach on the track and field team. That year, I coached the boys’ and girls’ shot put teams. At the end of the season, the team presented the new coaches with engraved whistles with our names on one side and the school name on the other.  It was at this time I really began to feel like a member of the school community.

I put that whistle in a safe place.  So safe a place, in fact, I could not find said whistle for another four years.  Then this past December as we were moving, we were cleaning out the garage and throwing away items no longer needed.  And there it was like the Holy Grail sitting at the bottom of a small packing box, my long forgotten whistle. At the beginning of every basketball and track and field season, I would look furtively look for that whistle to no avail.  

The same can be said about the thrill and enjoyment of coaching.  Last school year, I could not coach the girls’ basketball team at all due to my being in school.  Games were played on Monday and Wednesday evenings and I was in class on Wednesday evenings so basketball was out.  I was at least able to coach shot put for track and field but with the meets taking place on Wednesdays it was difficult for me to feel like a member of the team.  

Fast Forward to this year:

The head coach for the girls’ team asked if I was still interested in being an assistant coach for this season.  Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity to coach again. The love of teaching and sharing is just an inherent thrill I have enjoyed.  Teaching players who have little to no experience playing a sport in an organized manner. To see the happiness on their face when they complete a drill successfully for the first time or score their first basket in a practice or game.  The excitement a team has when one player has success or the team wins their first game. As much as I used to dread the second half of the school year because basketball led right into track and field, this year I am relishing the journey.  It already has been a thrill standing and the bus loop in the morning and walking the hallways hearing students call me “Coach” again.