Trying out for a sport freshman year of high school is scary enough, but being put on Varsity Reserve knowing only one person on the team is terrifying. I had no idea what to expect when I wasn't playing field hockey with all my friends anymore.

The first day of Arrowhead’s Field Hockey practice our coach made everyone write down a specific goal they wanted to achieve throughout the season. My personal goal was to become a better and faster runner.
Coach Sarah was an amazing coach and was personable with every athlete. During the season we created a bond, she would always braid my hair on the bus on our way to away games, and have random talks about different things. After what felt like months of asking her, she finally showed me her wedding pictures, and they were absolutely stunning.

You could spot her anywhere you were because she always wore Lululemon leggings, Patagonia’s, and Hunters, sometimes she would switch it up and wear Nike. At first I just thought she has great style, but toward the middle of the season, it became more of joke and we would “dress up like Coach Sarah” for a game day theme.
Sarah was also a teacher at Grafton High School and teaches American Government, so she understands if we needed to miss part of a practice to get help from our teachers, but she also pushed us and made us become better athletes. At the end of the season, she met with us individually, and talked about our goals we created in the beginning of the season and how we were able to conquer them. It made me feel like she really cared and wanted us to become better athletes.

She is a good communicator and had a working knowledge of the learning processes, and of teaching methods, training principles, and assessment procedures associated with Field Hockey/ Lacrosse. These skills gave her 5 roles—a teacher, organiser, competitor, learner, friend and mentor.  She never gave up, and always was showing us new moves or different drills.

If she wasn't my coach freshman year, I don't know if I would still be playing. She makes the team feel like a family.  She is what made me love the game, love coming to practice, and love pushing myself to do my very best.