“The coach is the thread that weaves a team together.” John Wooden. October 6th is National Coaches Day. Here at BGJHS, we want to recognize all that coaches do for us. They motivate student-athletes in so many different ways. Coaches help them get through rough times in their sports and make it all worth it in the end. Without these coaches, we would not be able to have sports at BGJHS.
Coaches motivate players in so many ways. Mrs. Amelia Cook, the assistant dance team coach at BGJHS, always tells her dancers if they’re in a rough place, “What you’re doing is difficult. You’re probably not going to get a triple-turn the first time you try. You’re probably not going to land correctly the 50th time you try. It might take you 500 or more times, and that’s okay, you’re going to get it; you just don’t have it yet so don’t beat yourself down.” The dancers at BGJHS are very thankful for all their coaches do for them. 7th-grade dancer Maddie Fisher said, “I’m just really thankful for my coaches because without them we wouldn’t be a team and we wouldn’t have made it this far to where we are now.”
Coaches hope that student-athletes take important messages with them through their lives and athletic careers. Coach Junior Hayes, head football coach here at BGJHS, wants his football players to know, “I just want them to have a good work ethic, be a gentleman, and to understand that while you’re playing, that school is still the most important thing, and that’s why they’re called student-athletes.” All coaches want what is best for their student-athletes.
Coaches aren’t always living on the sidelines. A student-athlete asked Coach Janusz Swierkosz, the BGJHS boys soccer coach, “Coach, do you play soccer?” and he said, “Yes, I do.” Coach S. feels it is important for people to know that you can never be too old to do the things you love or try something new. No matter what age you are, strive for success in whatever you want to do.
As we’ve seen, a great coach truly is the thread that weaves a team into a united force.
