Coaching High Schoolers as a College Athlete

This year, I spent my summer fully immersed in ultimate frisbee. I was coaching a youth league (PHLY) with 10-14-year-olds as well as an under 20 (U20) league (Forge) with high schoolers. In addition to coaching these teams, I was a practice player for Twist, a mixed team, and played in the PSL intermediate summer league at Edgely Ultimate Fields. I'm always ready to pick up for teams as well, so it's safe to say that I spent at least 5 days a week at Edgely.

I may have been the coach with the least experience in Ultimate Frisbee, but I was not the least experienced as an educator. I was especially excited at the chance to learn from Patrick Sherlock, the coach of Philly's mixed nationals-level team, AMP. I was certainly intimidated by coaching players who were better than me as well. Luckily, I had 2 great friends by my side to look up to.

It was much easier to get hold of coaching the younger players because they automatically saw me as an authoritative figure. Even if I was 10 years older than them, some of them were almost as tall as me! I also got lucky because my team had the oldest, and most experienced, group of players. That being said, I tried my best to prevent easy wins and silly decisions on the field. They even came up with their own ideas of how to make things more challenging for themselves while maintaining a high quality of playing.

One of the rules we set frequently was that everyone had to touch the disc at least once. Since these kids could throw pretty far, it was too easy for them to get points with only 3 or 4 touches. This way, they would have to think about making more deliberate passes as opposed to hucking downfield and hoping someone was there.

Another method we tried to add some difficulty while making playtime manageable was by requiring the execution of a specific type of cut. Typically, this would be an upline from a handler to whoever we chose to continue the flow. Practicing this consistently is a great way to make it a reflexive response in the future!

My experience with the U20 players was very different. I often felt like I didn't have much to say when coaches would speak in between drills or at half when we scrimmaged. However, I always found ways to help individuals throughout each practice. My attention to detail has helped me notice errors in others that I would also make. It also felt especially important to be a woman-matching person of colour in a position of authority. Given that frisbee, like all sports, is dominated by white man-matching players, it's great for young athletes to see someone who looks like them.

Another aspect I enjoyed was getting to connect with these players on a deeper level. Obviously, I couldn't play with the 10-14-year-olds, but I could often jump in on U20 practices when we were low on numbers. Like I said, many of the players were at my level or higher, so it was great practice for both of us when I could join. In the same way peer teaching as a French and ESL tutor was great for bonding with students during sessions, my closeness in age gave me an advantage in connecting with these players more personally. Everyone performs better when they're genuinely having a good time!

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After Philly took 1st in multiple divisions, the coaches and players alike had an inseparable bond. I will always have a special place in my heart for the first teams I ever coached and the people I did it alongside. If it weren't for my amazing teammate J'Lynn, I wouldn't have had such an incredible summer. These experiences also further solidified that I love being an educator in many forms and hope to find coaching opportunities wherever I go.