Coaching is a career that has ups and downs, but at the end of the day, it is really rewarding. It allows coaches to be able to have a positive influence on student-athletes and help them both on and off the court. Coaches teach their athletes how to problem solve and achieve in ways that are not possible or common in the classroom.
“No two days are the same and I get to be in a competitive atmosphere with extreme highs and, at times, crushing lows. It’s never boring,” Nick Weisheipl, the baseball coach, said.
What helps volleyball coach Eric Shaefer is the constant change within volleyball. The changes range from how players are developed to the mannerisms of a match.
Coach Schaefer did not always intend on coaching, especially at the college level. He became a coach at a local high school that needed a coach. Then, after realizing he could take on the role of a college volleyball coach, he was lucky enough to earn the position of Cabrini’s head coach for volleyball.
While Schaefer just happened to become a coach, not every coach stumbles across the career.
The head coach of the men’s basketball team, Tim McDonald, is very passionate about basketball and has been since high school.
While in high school, coach McDonald played three different sports: soccer, basketball and baseball. During his junior and senior years in high school, McDonald started thinking about how he could use his passion for basketball and become a coach.
McDonald has been coaching basketball at Cabrini for eight years. For the first four, he was the assistant coach, but has spent the last four as the head coach.
Being the head coach of the team is a great feeling because McDonald enjoys helping his athletes grow both on and off the court. Coach McDonald also enjoys watching the plays grow as students mature into adults and succeed in internships and careers after college.
Even after players graduate and leave both the team and Cabrini, Coach McDonald is able to keep in touch with them and see them grow even more as they start their families and continue their lives.
Jackie Neary is the head coach for Cabrini’s women’s field hockey and lacrosse teams. Although becoming a coach was a complete accident, she has been coaching at Cabrini for the past 22 years.
In 1994, Coach Neary found out about a coaching opportunity at Cabrini through a newspaper ad and interviewed for the job of starting a women’s lacrosse team. A year later, she was not only head coach for a soon-to-be very victorious team, but took on the field hockey team as well.
Coach Neary finds coaching to be fulfilling as the players are her favorite part of coaching and loves to see them come back after graduating and being successful off the field as they create families and succeed in their careers.
“Not only did I get a lot out of it, but so did my kids.”
All four of Neary’s children were raised on the sidelines of both lacrosse and field hockey and Neary would not have it any other way, as it created a lot of learning experiences for everyone.
Cabrini’s coaches have spent much time honing their skills; however, being a coach is not something that is learned overnight. It is a constant learning experience that results in better programs for the coaches and the student-athletes.
“I haven’t stopped learning how to coach the college player,” Shaefer said. “It has been a challenge building this program and, with the support of the entire athletic department, we are starting to be a destination for recruits rather than a second or third choice.”
