For my first ever blog, I spent some time considering what to write about. After much deliberation, I decided to answer the question that I have been asked the most; Why do you coach? So here it is:
I started coaching to pay it forward. I was fortunate to have had amazing coaches in swimming and rugby. I also had the benefit of fantastic pys ed teachers, who were also great coaches in their own right. As an adult I had realized that they gave me self confidence, aided me to be a member of teams that became family. For a girl who was bullied through school and had trouble fitting into her family sometimes, it saved my sanity. When I met the girls on the first high school team I coached, I saw some who reminded me of… me. Of the girls that I swam and played rugby with. Our high school rugby team was a mixed bag of misfits from two rival high schools. I thought that if I could make one girl feel empowered, and that she felt like she had a place in this world; that I had made a difference. When I ended up playing with that set of girls on a senior women’s team, and then watched them graduate university, have careers and families; and still be involved in rugby. I definitely did my part. Some of even started coaching.
As I no longer play, I now have mentor coaches. These amazing people share their knowledge on so many levels. They do so out of the love of our sport. Now I coach a U 18 ladies representative team and a senior men’s team. Both allow me to pay it forward in so many ways. When I see my girls and men beam when they execute a new skill to perfection, and they help their teammates to understand. I am often so proud that I become speechless. When I hear them talk about being a family, and supporting each other off of the field, I remember a team of high school girls finally sticking up for each other. Families and teams allow people to be themselves and to develop into better people.
Why do I coach? To pay it forward, for the love of a sport, to empower my players to be better people.
Bio: Tina Prescott is a Level 2 Certified NCCP and Rugby Canada Coach from Carstairs, Alberta Canada. She is the Head Coach to the Calgary Mavericks U – 18 Ladies Rugby and Assistant Coach to Calgary Knights Rugby Football Club Sr. Mens Team
In high school and college, Tina took part in lots of sports including swimming and track&field (sprinter) with her most success in rugby having played senior women’s rugby for 13 years and being forced to retire due to injury.
