From grading papers to creating plays, many of the coaches on campus are also part of the SCHS staff. Despite the struggle of managing academic and athletic duties, staff coaches have the opportunity to become successful in their sports and lead a team efficiently.
Girls junior varsity basketball coach and science teacher Saheed Mohamed compared his responsibilities to those of his students
“It’s just like students. For them to do extracurricular activities, they should be able to handle the school work first,” Mohamed said. “If a teacher wants to take on an extra duty of coaching, they should be able to know whether they can balance that or not.”
Mohamed noted that student athletes go home and complete their assignments while their teacher goes home to grade assignments, but both groups have to deal with balancing time between school and sports.
“That is something that’s come into consideration with myself when coaching in the past and even currently, where I’m like, ‘Am I going to have enough time to actually do this?’” Mohamed said. “So it does take time, but that’s something that you figure out.”
Some staff coaches have an advantage when it comes to communicating with their players during school hours, an opportunity non-staff coaches do not have. Boys water polo head coach and physical education teacher Gene Kendall appreciates the ability to communicate with his athletes during school hours.
“I do have an athletics PE class where some of my players are in the class and they get an opportunity to be in the pool and do things that they wouldn’t be able to do otherwise in a regular PE class, which is great,” Kendall said.
Kendall believes that the most prominent advantage of a staff coach is the distinction and relationships he forms with his athletes both as a coach and a school staff member.
“There’s definite advantages to being an on-campus coach. I feel like I have a better reputation with my athletes being an on-campus coach because not only can they look at me as a coach, but I’m a teacher as well,” Kendall said. “It’s not that it is something that I put forward, but there’s a natural respect when kids know that you’re a teacher too.”
Although some may prefer communicating and working with a staff coach, senior swimmer Alexis Lindsey feels differently. For her, staff coaches could make athletes feel as if they are required to be more professional and not be able to be playful with fellow athletes.
“I actually think it’s easier (to have a non-staff coach) because they don’t have this expectation of you with academics, so it can just be more of a friendly dynamic,” Lindsey said. “I feel like staff members have this expectation that you have to be super respectful at all times and not as friendly.”
The possible formation of an equal relationship between a non-staff coach and an athlete is an alliance Lindsey prefers particularly for harboring a positive coach-athlete bond. Some believe that non-staff coaches are better coaches because they have more time to work as a coach as opposed to worrying about teacher duties. Non-staff coaches, however, also have jobs outside of coaching, which means they also deal with multiple responsibilities.
Lindsey also acknowledged that there appears to be a certain perception regarding staff and non-staff coaches.
“I do think there’s a stigma,” Lindsey said. “I think that people expect the staff to be worse at coaching. I think because their main priority would be teaching, and the main priority of a non-staff coach is coaching.”
Whether there is a stigma or not, many student athletes feel fortunate enough to have a large pool of sports available at SCHS. Soccer and golf player junior Viggo Paetau chooses to focus on the coach’s experience, believing that is more important than whether the coach is staff or not.
“I think it matters, the experience that they have in that sport, or how good they are at teaching and bonding with their students or players,” Paetau said. “I think that’s kind of like experience and how well they like to connect with their students.”