FROM A FORMER CHEETAH PARENT:
Hi Coach,
I miss the Cheetahs and it sounds like you have a great program going… I thank you again for introducing Ariel to lacrosse… You taught her so much! You just never know what will have an influence on a child… and your influence has taken her places she may not have known otherwise!
-Ariel now plays for Belmont Abbey College
FROM A FORMER CHEETAH PLAYER:
Hey Coach,
I hope all is well up there in Knoxville, TN, as your new team is getting ready for the approaching season. I just wanted to e-mail you and let you know that try-outs were this past Monday, and that I out of the fifty or so girls of the Spanish River Community High School LAX team, I made the cut for varsity! Nineteen girls were accepted on the varsity team, and I was so proud this past Friday to have my name announce before the entire school at the pep rally for making the team.
As I stood in the middle of the gym looking up at the stands, I couldn't help but think back to my Cheetah days and the coach that molded me into the player that I have become. From the first day of fall ball practice, the experienced players came up to me asking how long I'd played, where I learned my dodges and how I acquired my speed. I smiled in disbelief at the compliments and answered with, "I had a great team, and an awesome coach in Knoxville". Coach Kurt, I have you and the Cheetahs to thank for preparing me extensively for any team, cultivating a love of the sport, and for always encouraging me despite the score.
As the approaching season emerges, I hope that the girls will be as receptive to your coaching and practices, because for me- I know that it made all the difference.
Thanks Coach, you're the best!
FROM A MIDDLE SCHOOL PARENT:
Coach,
When it comes to coaching kids below the high school level, it's easy to diminish the quality of coaching, sometimes even in the coach's own mind, perhaps because it doesn't feel as consequential. Following yesterday's win against Cookeville, I truly was impressed with the way you managed every aspect of the game. The fact that it's a middle school girls team in no way takes away from the job you did and have done all season. Your style, teaching, knowledge and game management would be effective at any level.
As a former TV sportscaster who covered coaches in several sports in the SEC, ACC and West Coast Conference (and played HS lacrosse), I think I'm a little more qualified than most parents in recognizing good coaching. You have an intuitive feel about the game that can't be taught. Your timeout Saturday when the Cheetahs went up 4-1 was brilliant. It gave the girls a rest during a positive time and gave you a chance to exhort them to play harder. In the Grassland game, you took a different kind of TO that stopped the opposition's momentum when your girls were out of gas.
You understand that girls need to be coached differently than boys. Perhaps because they're more intelligent than we are, they not only need to be told to do something but why. You did an excellent job of calmly clearing up the 3-second rule for my daughter and the end line rule for the attack (although I'm not sure your defenders understood that it applied equally to them).
Anyway, I just want you to know that I see what a fine job you're doing, despite limitations on practice time, number of players, and the experience and skills of the players themselves. They've all improved so much this season. My daughter is really enjoying herself and that's the best compliment of all. Keep it up!
Hi Coach,
I miss the Cheetahs and it sounds like you have a great program going… I thank you again for introducing Ariel to lacrosse… You taught her so much! You just never know what will have an influence on a child… and your influence has taken her places she may not have known otherwise!
-Ariel now plays for Belmont Abbey College
FROM A FORMER CHEETAH PLAYER:
Hey Coach,
I hope all is well up there in Knoxville, TN, as your new team is getting ready for the approaching season. I just wanted to e-mail you and let you know that try-outs were this past Monday, and that I out of the fifty or so girls of the Spanish River Community High School LAX team, I made the cut for varsity! Nineteen girls were accepted on the varsity team, and I was so proud this past Friday to have my name announce before the entire school at the pep rally for making the team.
As I stood in the middle of the gym looking up at the stands, I couldn't help but think back to my Cheetah days and the coach that molded me into the player that I have become. From the first day of fall ball practice, the experienced players came up to me asking how long I'd played, where I learned my dodges and how I acquired my speed. I smiled in disbelief at the compliments and answered with, "I had a great team, and an awesome coach in Knoxville". Coach Kurt, I have you and the Cheetahs to thank for preparing me extensively for any team, cultivating a love of the sport, and for always encouraging me despite the score.
As the approaching season emerges, I hope that the girls will be as receptive to your coaching and practices, because for me- I know that it made all the difference.
Thanks Coach, you're the best!
FROM A MIDDLE SCHOOL PARENT:
Coach,
When it comes to coaching kids below the high school level, it's easy to diminish the quality of coaching, sometimes even in the coach's own mind, perhaps because it doesn't feel as consequential. Following yesterday's win against Cookeville, I truly was impressed with the way you managed every aspect of the game. The fact that it's a middle school girls team in no way takes away from the job you did and have done all season. Your style, teaching, knowledge and game management would be effective at any level.
As a former TV sportscaster who covered coaches in several sports in the SEC, ACC and West Coast Conference (and played HS lacrosse), I think I'm a little more qualified than most parents in recognizing good coaching. You have an intuitive feel about the game that can't be taught. Your timeout Saturday when the Cheetahs went up 4-1 was brilliant. It gave the girls a rest during a positive time and gave you a chance to exhort them to play harder. In the Grassland game, you took a different kind of TO that stopped the opposition's momentum when your girls were out of gas.
You understand that girls need to be coached differently than boys. Perhaps because they're more intelligent than we are, they not only need to be told to do something but why. You did an excellent job of calmly clearing up the 3-second rule for my daughter and the end line rule for the attack (although I'm not sure your defenders understood that it applied equally to them).
Anyway, I just want you to know that I see what a fine job you're doing, despite limitations on practice time, number of players, and the experience and skills of the players themselves. They've all improved so much this season. My daughter is really enjoying herself and that's the best compliment of all. Keep it up!
