As student athletes get more experience during high school, it allows them to feel ready to teach their skills to the upcoming athletes in the area. Seniors Kaden Covill, Claire Egnash, and junior Aiden Pagnucci, are examples of students who have taken initiative to help with the skills of younger athletes. 

Covill’s basketball career started with him playing with his father, then playing on junior travel leagues, and ultimately allowing him to play varsity basketball. Getting to play varsity basketball and the inspiration from his father caused Covill to feel ready to start coaching the 7th and 8th graders who participate in the Superior Basketball Association. 

“My dad coached me since I was a kid for football and I would play with him growing up, he is kind of a key factor of why I wanted to coach basketball along with getting some volunteer hours in,” Covill said.

Along with getting community service hours in and using the inspiration from his father, Covill has found that the experience of being a coach has helped him relate to his own coaches. It has helped Covill change the way he thinks about the coaching process when they give tips or critique. 

“It gives you a different view on how your coaches view you, now coaching has shown me how it affects the kids being coached. I have also taken what my coaches have said to me, and using it on the kids I am coaching now, it is kind of like a circle,” Covill said.

Covill and Pagnucci share opinions when it comes to how coaches can affect their players. Pagnucci has found that teaching his sport has not only helped him respect his coaches more but also understand the technique that he is coaching better. 

“If I can explain the technique to someone else, I can understand it better myself, and technique is very important. Coaching also helps me respect the effort and time that his coaches put into coaching,” Pagnucci stated.

Pagnucci feels that the process of teaching the different techniques helps him realize that it can be frustrating for coaches, changing how he views his coaches. 

Similar to Pagnucci, Egnash has also found how the way she coaches is based on the experiences she has had with past coaches and how she has seen how different coaching can affect the players. 

“I try to make things somewhat fun. When you’re so young, it kind of determines if you keep going with the sport or not and coaches can play a big role in that. So I think keeping a good mindset while coaching can help keep them playing the sport,” Egnash stated. 

With the years of experience Egnash has, she knows how coaching can affect each player individually. Knowing this, it inspires Egnash to take into account how her coaching could impact each player in their future volleyball career. 

Being able to have the experience of coaching has given these student athletes the opportunity to view their sport in another perspective and ultimately allowing them to grow as a player themselves.