Change Isn't Always a Bad Thing...

Five and a half years ago, I received a call from Heather Cairns, the head women's soccer coach at Utah State University.  She had a grad assistant opening on her staff and asked if I would be interested.  I drove to Logan, Utah the next week to interview and later was offered a position as a graduate assistant.  With the plan to only be there a year, I took a leave of absence from teaching to coach at the college level and earn a Master's degree.  After being at Utah State for a few months, Heather invited me to come back on staff the next season, and I didn't return to the classroom....until now.

Its funny how life changes so quickly.  One year ago, I was planning on coaching at this level forever.  Then I got married, and my priorities changed.  Chris and I want to start a family...but with two of us in college athletics, constantly traveling, working insane amount of hours, etc, is it really fair to my future children for both of us to remain in this profession?  A lot of people do it and they make it work, but I didn't feel this profession and the expectations I am held to allows for me to have the balance I need to be the wife and mother I want to be and need to be.  I was blessed to be able to find a teaching job that didn't start until right after season....the timing was too perfect...Heavenly Father was truly guiding me and watching over me as I made my decision.

It has been a great run.  I've worked with some wonderful coaches.  I've learned a lot and feel I have grown in every aspect of my life.  I have made some wonderful friends and acquaintances who sadly I may never see again because the only time you see each other is on the recruiting trail or when you play against each other! There have been a lot of laughs, tears, stressful moments, joys and sorrows.  I've learned about integrity and trust.  I’ve been on both sides of the fence where I have worked with those who have shown the highest level of integrity, trust and teamwork.  And I’ve also worked with those who showed very little integrity and could not be trusted.   I've grown to have a greater respect for my dad, who also worked in another type of business that can be cutthroat and stressful at times, and how he kept his integrity through it all....and I remember him telling us to always keep our integrity becuse no one can take that away from us.  Still today, people who worked with him always comment on how he was a man of integrity and how his family always came first.  I will miss coaching at this level....game days, traveling to different college campuses to compete, traveling to different parts of the country to recruit and seeing my friends at the fields, being with a team, working closely with a staff, seeing the direct effects of my work with players and see them grasp concepts and begin to improve having so much confidence in themselves.  I've been involved wtih a program who won 2 conference championships and went to the NCAA tournament for the first time in conference history.  I helped turn a program around taking it from being on the bottom of the conference into 4th place in just three years.  We broke records that have been in place for 14 years!  There is a lot to be proud of in my short 6 seasons of my collegiate coaching career.  It ended this past Friday when GW lost to LaSalle in double overtime.   I will tell the GW team on Tuesday.  It will be a tough day for me as I say goodbye, but I am glad that I will still be around GW to support the various sports with Chris as he continues to work there, because it means I will bump into my former players and be able to catch up with them.

 Fortunately, I have blessed to also have a love for teaching and will be returning to the classroom this week.  I will be teaching 7th grade English, English Honors, and ESOL.  I have also been blessed with wonderful friends and family who have supported me these past six years both near and far, and a wonderful husband who encourages me to work hard and do things right to reach my full potential.  He never complained about my travel schedule or my work schedule.  I could not have finished this last season the way I did without his support.  And now it's on to the next adventure.....!!!!!