Lindsay Underhill

PED 310

Dr. Deaton

2/13/2020

Coach/ Athlete Paper

Over my 4 years of playing high school soccer, I ended up having 3 different head

coaches. At my high school, the soccer program was still new, and if I’m honest not taken very

seriously. Over those 4 years, I had some really good coaches that helped the team to grow and

improve. There were also some with questionable coaching styles and attitudes, particularly the

coach I had my sophomore and junior season.

This coach was widely popular among the student body; she was everyone’s favorite

teacher. She was also known to show favoritism, both in the classroom and on the field. Those

who were her favorite often ended up being appointed captains, starting each game, and playing

the position they preferred rather than the position that was best for the team. Her favorites were

allowed to get away with being late to games and practices, slacking off, and making errors. The

rest of us were not.

When those of us who were not in her favorites list made mistakes in practices or games,

the team was often punished as a whole rather than as individuals. One day, a group of us walked

onto the practice field directly behind the coach rather than in front of her, and she decided that

this group of people was late. The entire team was punished, and we ended up running suicides

for 5 minutes- a minute for each girl who was by her standards late. While we ran, she yelled

things like “You all can thank those who were late for having to run!” This created even more

division on the team than there was before, thanks to her favorites list.
 Seeing that we had difficulty finishing our 5 minutes of punishment that day, she decided

that suicides would be a daily part of our “warm up”. This made each day feel more like

punishment than practice.

I could go on and on about the negatives of her coaching style, but I would be lying if I

said that it didn’t come with a few positives. As much as everyone hated running suicides each

day, we were all in great shape. That season, I was the most physically fit I have ever been,

despite the fact that I ate raw cookie dough as a main course each day for lunch. No joke.

Dealing with this coach also taught me a lot about life. While playing under her, I learned

that you don’t have to like everyone, and everyone doesn’t have to like you. I tend to be a people

pleaser, and I want everyone to like me. Those 2 seasons of working under her taught me that

sometimes, that’s just not the case. In life, I will have to deal with and work alongside people

that I don’t necessarily like, and there will be people I work with that don’t like me. That is just

part of being an adult.

Participating in sports not only helped me to improve my physical health, but also to

grow as a person. I learned many lessons about soccer and about life, though some I had to learn

the hard way. I am thankful for the experience of playing soccer, even though sometimes it

wasn’t the most pleasant experience. Sometimes, being uncomfortable and getting out of your

comfort zone is when you learn the most.