{"id":4004,"date":"2018-02-09T12:17:38","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T17:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/?page_id=4004"},"modified":"2018-02-09T12:17:38","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T17:17:38","slug":"game-changers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2018\/features\/game-changers\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Changers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Two<\/a>
Trinity Head Softball Coach Caitlin Hitchcock \u201900, M\u201904, center, with players Katie Haghdan \u201918, Fern McHan Duncan Scholar, and Rachael Smith \u201918 Photo by Monica Jorge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alumnae offer insight into why they coach<\/strong> By Mary Howard  <\/em>         Trinity College alumnae who are coaches are teaching their athletes how to hit curveballs, both on and off the field. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about putting wins on the board,\u201d says Caitlin Hitchcock \u201900, M\u201904. \u201cIt\u2019s also about helping student-athletes find their place in the world.\u201d Now in her 16th season as Trinity\u2019s head softball coach, Hitchcock says that seeing her players mature\u2014\u201cnot only with softball skills but as people, leaders, and teammates\u201d\u2014is the most rewarding aspect of her job. She didn\u2019t come to Trinity thinking she would be a collegiate coach. \u201cI wasn\u2019t quite sure what I wanted to do back then,\u201d she says. But her time as a student-athlete on the basketball and softball teams \u201cpulled me in. I really enjoyed my athletic experience here, which contributed to my choosing to stay in athletics.\u201d After graduation, she took a graduate assistant position at Trinity, coaching volleyball and softball while working on her master\u2019s degree in American studies. She also was an assistant basketball coach from 2000 to 2003.<\/p>\n

\"Olivia<\/a>
Olivia Berry \u201914, head softball coach at Emmanuel College. Photo by Susan Spofford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the years, she has inspired several of her players to go into coaching, including Olivia Berry \u201914, who was hired in summer 2017 as the head softball coach at Emmanuel College in Boston. \u201cCoach Hitchcock always pushed us physically and mentally on the field,\u201d says Berry, who was named to the 2014 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) All-Sportsmanship Team. \u201cShe expanded my capabilities, and that affects me daily.\u201d Berry drew heavily on those life lessons learned on the diamond as she started her own career. As an assistant softball coach at Emmanuel, she also worked three part-time jobs and was finishing her master\u2019s in sports leadership at Northeastern University. \u201cNow I make sure my players push themselves because whether they know it or not, they are capable of more than they can imagine.\u201d Hunter Drews \u201916, head women\u2019s volleyball coach at State University of New York (SUNY) Geneseo, requires her players to participate in two leadership programs each semester. \u201cI\u2019m tough on them,\u201d she says. \u201cI expect them to be well rounded. Homework is not an excuse to miss practice or vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Hunter Drews \u201916, head women\u2019s volleyball coach at SUNY Geneseo
Photo by Keith Walters, SUNY Geneseo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Drews was an assistant coach at Geneseo, \u201cdeep into planning for graduate school in forensic psychology,\u201d when the team\u2019s head coach left. \u201cThere was no way I couldn\u2019t apply for the job,\u201d says Drews, who double majored in psychology and American studies at Trinity. She became a driving force behind Geneseo\u2019s resurgence during the 2016 season, as the program made its first postseason appearance in five years. She also helped mentor a pair of rising sophomores to SUNY Athletic Conference All-Star recognition. \u201cI couldn\u2019t leave what I had a hand in creating,\u201d she says. Now she\u2019s exactly where she wants to be, she says. \u201cI love it; volleyball all day, every day.\u201d However, the 24\/7 nature of being a head coach can be overwhelming, says Kristen Noone M\u201907, who served as Trinity\u2019s head men\u2019s and women\u2019s swimming and diving coach from 2000 to 2014 before taking on administrative roles, including a stint as interim director of athletics in 2017. \u201cYou better have a passion for it.\u201d Coaches are responsible for everything from recruiting and organizing practices to counseling student-athletes and engaging parents, she says, adding that most coaches in Division III sports have only one assistant. \u201cThis makes every sport a year-round sport.\u201d It was Noone\u2019s passion for athletics that led her to ditch a high-powered career in the insurance industry to coach collegiate swimming. \u201cIt was, by far, the best decision I\u2019ve made.\u201d To bring more women into coaching and to foster mentoring relationships, NESCAC held a Coaching Symposium for Women last April in Westford, Massachusetts. The two-day event, which Noone helped organize, gave female student-athletes from 11 member institutions an opportunity to learn about coaching and athletic administration. \u201cCoaches at various levels, seasoned administrators, and keynote speakers shared their experiences and provided opportunities to discuss the challenges women face in the field,\u201d she says. Four Bantams were among the attendees, including Kelcie Finn \u201918. A standout athlete on the field hockey and women\u2019s ice hockey teams, Finn says a career in coaching will give her an opportunity to give back to the sport. She says Head Field Hockey Coach Anne Parmenter is an inspiration. \u201cShe takes our skill and combines it with her knowledge of the game but stresses that it is our commitment to improving that brings it all together.\u201d A double major in history and classics with a concentration in Latin, Finn hopes to coach and teach at a boarding school. While doing a postgraduate year at Westminster School in Simsbury, Connecticut, she \u201cfell in love\u201d with the boarding school lifestyle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Michelle Smith \u201908, M\u201911, head women\u2019s lacrosse coach at Babson College
Photo by Babson Athletics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Having great mentors helps Michelle Smith \u201908, M\u201911, head women\u2019s lacrosse coach at Babson College, keep her perspective. \u201cIt\u2019s a job with a lot of highs and lows,\u201d she says. \u201cYou need someone you can call at a moment\u2019s notice when something goes wrong.\u201d For her, that someone is Parmenter, her field hockey coach at Trinity. \u201cShe always makes me feel like that next, great win is right around the corner.\u201d Smith was a two-sport athlete at Trinity, playing lacrosse in addition to field hockey. \u201cThose are the first college memories that come back to me,\u201d she says. While playing lacrosse, she saw the program improve dramatically. \u201cWe went from having zero postseason games to playing in the NESCAC championship my senior year.\u201d Briana Daley \u201918, co-captain of the Trinity women\u2019s cross country team and a member of the women\u2019s track and field team, also plans on a career in athletics. \u201cI want to be that mentor who helps people reach their full potential,\u201d she says, adding that being a college athlete has taught her much more than just how to run. \u201cI have learned how to connect with people, how to deal with success and failure, and how to be competitive in a healthy way.\u201d Daley was one of 200 athletes to participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association\u2019s Career in Sports Forum, held last June in Indianapolis. She says the forum\u2019s speakers impressed upon her \u201cthe importance of being open to new experiences, taking advantage of opportunities, and pursuing your passions.\u201d An English and educational studies major, she plans to pursue a graduate assistant position in track and field and cross country after graduation. Hitchcock feels that bringing more women into coaching will mean more resources and mentors for young women, like Finn and Daley. \u201cIt\u2019s good for the sport; it proves to the student-athletes that they can do what we are doing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alumnae offer insight into why they coach By Mary Howard           Trinity College alumnae who are coaches are teaching their athletes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"parent":1464,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4004"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4004\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}