By Lauri Hennessey

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about coaching.

Our family spends a good bit of time coaching. My husband has coached my son’s soccer team for two years now. I have coached my daughter’s softball team for three years and started coaching her basketball team this year.

And as I spend all of that time out there, watching soccer in the rain, huddling from snow in a basketball gym or sweltering in the heat coaching softball, I find myself thinking one simple thing: Man, I love this.

For me, coaching is made up of many wonderful moments. Some of the best include a “Rocky” victory over a better team, seeing a new athlete learn a sport and seeing the kids create friendships that last throughout the year.

I know much of why I am coaching can be placed at the feet of my dad, the world’s best softball coach. When I was growing up, my dad was a terrific coach, and I was often his pitcher. I remember him coming home from draft night, as we would be breathlessly waiting to hear the team assignments. I remember him carrying the gear onto the field and the endless recapping of the games we would do for days afterwards. In fact, when I think of my dad, a great deal of my memories of him come from him watching me play basketball or do the high jump or him coaching me in softball.

Now, I realize, the time that my dad and I started drifting apart in my teenage years coincided with when I gave up sports. As my interest went into other things (school leadership, music), I turned away from the sports that had connected my dad and me all of those years. We reconnected again later, and it has been wonderful to have him come and visit sometimes and watch his grandkids play sports and me coach.

I find myself looking into the years ahead. My oldest daughter and I have always had the bond of doing music together. My second child and I have the bond of doing sports together. I know that as my younger daughter goes deeper and deeper into the teenage years ahead, those days of doing sports will be critical for us. Sure, she will soon be out of my hands as a coach and will be passed along to people much more qualified than I. But I will be there watching from the sidelines, watching my daughter and all of the girls I have been coaching over the years, watching them grow up and watching them use skills that I have taught them.

The thought of seeing these girls keep going with their sports makes me smile, even though my smile is a bit melancholy.

No matter what the sport, it’s the coaching I love.

The coaches of Vashon never cease to amaze me. The deeper I get into this sports community, the more I find generosity, support, kindness. I find a fellowship of parents who work hard, volunteer their time and come out in rain and sun to teach the kids.

And here is another thing I have found. Every team has a “Most Inspirational” award. If I could get a “Most Inspirational” award, I think I would give it to the people who run these sports leagues. What would soccer be without “the Davids” or basketball without Sandy and Foss, or baseball without Cheryl, Glynis, Joe and David? If the coaches work hard, these guys work doubly hard. They handle complaints, they raise money, and they come out rain or shine. And fairly often, when they are not busy running sports, I catch this on their faces: the simple love of the game.

I look at my children and wonder if they will coach. Will it give them the same wonderful feeling of going full-circle, of giving back as a coach in a world where you were coached by a parent?

The other day I was walking through town and heard a kid yell, “Hi, Coach!” The kid yelled it three times before I finally realized she was talking to me. I wish my dad could have been near me at the time to watch my face spread into a grin. I wondered if my dad used to feel the same silly happiness I did when he heard the greeting.

Wow. I’m a coach. What a great feeling.

>i>— Lauri Hennessey, a mother of three, is a public relations consultant.