To the Toughest Coach I’ve Ever Had,

Thank you. I mean that with the utmost sincerity, because you taught me some of the most important lessons that I will carry with me the rest of my life. A lot of high school coaches follow the cliché-coaching mold: cheering on their team, being positive and encouraging, and accepting each game as “we tried our best,” win or lose. Not you.

You put our team before anything else. You meticulously planned our practices, making sure that each player honed her basic skills, knowing exactly what she needed to work on and how to fix it. You taught us to “do the simple thing”; you don’t need fancy moves to win a game. You kept us in shape: running a mile and a half, and then sprints, before every practice ensuring that we would be the best conditioned team, right down to the final whistle. Hard work beats talent, you always said.

You made us play for each other. If we messed up, we’d better fix it because our mistake affected every other girl on the field with us. You taught us that a team is like a well-oiled machine: if all the parts are functioning well, the entire machine will run smoothly. Similarly, if every player does her job, the entire team will be successful. So, we did, because no one wanted to be the one to let the rest of the team down.

You taught us to be the ones working hard, not watching and riding along on the team’s success. You kept us accountable. If we made a mistake in practice, we could make it in a game. Countless laps around the field and push-ups behind the net made every single move, skill, and play count. You taught us to recognize our weaknesses and turn them into strengths. You taught us to never give up.

You gave everything you had to our team. From scouting other teams and learning their corner plays and the numbers of their best players to standing in the middle of a snowstorm in a sweatshirt to get that one last practice in before a game. As soon as our season ended in November, you were getting practice plans ready and having meetings with our assistant coaches to prepare for next fall.

You taught us to never get ahead of ourselves. Despite your immense success over decades, not once did you ever settle for where you were. You understood that a team is never perfect and improvement is always available. You taught us to stay humble and keep our dignity, talking for an hour after a 6-0 win about everything we could have done to bring our play to a higher level and what needed to work on for the next game.

You taught us that every single game and every single practice matters, and that it is essential to take each day one day at a time. You knew how important it was to focus only on the present and what we could be doing to make ourselves better for tomorrow. We could be playing one of the best teams in the state next week but your only concern was tomorrow’s practice and how we were going to use every minute to improve.

You motivated us, drawing on inspiration from some of the greatest athletes in history. You forced us to understand the value of determination, even if others around us did not have the same drive. You focused on each player, figuring out what made each one “click.” You believed in us, even if we couldn’t always tell.

You taught us to handle adversity. That no matter how much of a “target” we were to other teams, all we could do was focus on our game and being the best that we could be. No matter who was out to get us, no matter who was convinced they were going to beat us, we could never let that affect our play.

Most of all, you shaped me into the person I am today. You made your players stronger, both mentally and physically. You taught us that we have to work for our success because nothing is handed to us. You taught us that even when the odds are stacked against us, the way we handle it and fight through is the true determination of our character. You taught us that resilience, both in life and on the field, can only come from within ourselves.

Thank you for being the best coach I've ever had. Thank you for making me a better athlete and a better person.