By the time Spring rolls around at State High, many high school students are eager to get out their cleats and gloves to kick off a new baseball season. But with more and more teachers taking on coaching positions, it leads one to wonder who is more excited; teachers or their students?
As the 2024 State High baseball season soon begins to roll around, the upcoming baseball coaching staff (along with many other State High athletic programs) puts a focus on more and more teachers and faculty embarking on more than just the classroom.
Some major aspects a respectable coach must display in order to seek success include good communication, leadership, and quality feedback. All of which are active traits a teacher must use on an everyday basis in order to effectively teach his or her students. With long experience in teaching and supervising a classroom, there’s no question why State High athletic programs have been so triumphant in the past. Not only have teachers stepped into coaching positions for the baseball program, but for other programs like State High football and the basketball teams.
With this in mind, it’s clear why so many teachers are easily able to transfer the teaching methods they’ve learned from the classroom and apply them to the field.
Both Jeffery Kissell and David Williams, teachers in the business department at State High, took on coaching positions during the 2023 season. Both teachers took roles in the baseball program—Williams as the head varsity coach of the baseball team, alongside mentor, and assistant varsity coach Kissell. This past season the team was able to take home the District 6 championship, beating Altoona High School at Mount Aloysius College.
Kissell explained why more teachers should take up coaching sports. “I think that one of the greatest advantages to any coach is to develop a relationship with his or her players, and having student-athletes in the classroom allows you to do that easily,” Kissell said. “It provides our team with an enormous advantage during the season.”
When explaining the experience of managing both the teaching and coaching schedules, “The ball field to me is an extension of the classroom, so those schedules sort of connect to one another, and a lot of the ball players on the team (both JV and varsity) are in a lot of our classes, so we can make the connection to the ball field into the classroom,” Williams said. “What I enjoy most is making the connection with the ball player on the field and the student-athlete in the classroom. To help them reach their potential in athletics, but also try to help them reach their potential in academics and their career paths in the future.”
Williams further explained what he and the rest of the coaching staff are most looking forward to, this upcoming season, “Just to the seen development and growth of each and every player on the team, both JV and varsity. Watching those players set personal goals and teams goals, to them reach them.” Williams said.
Both Kissell and Williams can agree that stepping into the position of a coach as a teacher is one of the most rewarding things a teacher can do. For not only getting to know and help grow their athletes; but rather mold them into achieving their highest potential in all areas of life.
