Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

So many times, you have a parent venting about a player on the team. This is being written as a parent of a coach for this team.

At the beginning of last year the AD for the school searched out my daughter as she volunteered in an assistant coach capacity and did some great things with players on the team. As she addresses us as parents, we supported her and wished her the best in this new role of head coach, as she felt a true love for the sport, the girls, and the group. But as the season progressed our expectations and hers fell short in some areas and did not let her down in others. As a parent you take great pride in hearing of her success, as we had a total stranger tell us as parents all the good things she was doing and this person was a previous coach, and her previous coaches all who knew her from Rochester were so proud of her and her new venture. The fact of the matter is we see this in all sports including this group.

The parents are quick to complain and give input along with the players, but no one is willing to help and support the sport teams to be a success. As parents and players we all have busy schedules but need to make time for our kids and their coaches as both roles are difficult to be in and expectations are great. I was one of those parents but soon realized my role as a parent needed to be different in a supportive capacity in order to see such sports succeed.

The story no one knew about this coach, was she was on a team that almost wasn’t, and the team reached out and took a girl who could not even skate as a freshman in high school, to be a most improved player and as a senior a goalie. The team fought to keep her they worked with her in their down time and functioned as a true team wins and losses did not hold as much weight as seeing the team exist for players to follow, and they moved as such when they played, they know how important each of their rolls were and everyone was equally important to their existence. The entitlement of players to play was not the primary goal, that lied in the support of their teammates and parents alike.

She wanted to see the Austin girls team support such a belief, at the end of the season she was led to believe next season she would have the opportunity to continue to support such a belief. But this became wrong as she was terminated, a heartfelt blow to letting everyone down girls, parents and team alike. To whomever takes on this role I wish you the best of luck … .Because the one you lost left her heart with the girls and the team as a whole, and for parents of players remember teams can’t succeed unless they have the support of you!!!!! There is a reason coaches are hard to find especially when we as parents act with entitlement and not with support!

Dawn White

Rochester, MN