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Marian is filled to the brim with student athletes. For some, participating in their sport isn’t enough. Several students choose to coach, too.
Coaching presents many different advantages. By
teaching new skills to others, an athlete’s personal skills become even more refined. Senior Emily Vlach teaches dance at The Dance Authority.
“[My students] make me work harder … They show me how hard they work and how they achieve their goals, and once they achieve their goals, I’m like, if I tried as hard as they do, I can achieve my goals too,” Vlach said. “[Dance] is something I love,
and so it’s just fun to see the little kids falling in love with it.”
A large factor that makes coaching so enjoyable for these girls is the personal side of it. Sophomore Allison Martin coaches a third-grade volleyball team at Christ the King. “[The girls] really get attached to you, and they’re really nice, so they become your friends,” Martin said. After deciding to end her own volleyball career, Martin jumped at the opportunity to continue participating in the sport.
Senior Maggie Forbes, the diving coach of the Omaha Country Club Stingrays, especially enjoys seeing her athletes perfect a dive that they have been relentlessly working on. “They’re so excited about it that you [get] excited about it,” Forbes said.
Forbes quickly took to coaching. “I was assistant the year before [I started coaching] with my club coach, so once I started assisting, I really liked it, and then I found a job for it,” Forbes said.
Student coaches have to shoulder a lot of responsibility. Because they’re young, they have to convince their athlete’s parents that they can be trusted with their children. “At rst, parents thought I was too young for the job, but as the year went on they realized I could handle these kids and their kids are having fun,” Forbes said.
Dealing with small children especially requires a trustworthy presence from the coach. “A lot of little kids their rst couple of weeks get upset and don’t want to leave mom or dad to go to class. So in those situations I usually give that child a little more attention, and the parents are always very thankful and appreciative,” Vlach said. Vlach teaches children as young as 1 and a half years old.
All three of these student coaches have found how rewarding coaching can be. “It’s cool to watch them grow … and see their progression throughout the year,” Vlach said. The skills and lessons that these Marian students have acquired through their coaching experiences will prove to be useful throughout their futures.
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