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school is structured and operates, and coaching provides them with a great way to bond and expand their working relationship with students." 1 Observing how students best learned in the classroom gave me clues as to how they would best respond on the court or field and vice versa. The additional hours and context were invaluable to developing a shared language and strategies for success. Ron Carter, a Trevor Learning Specialist and Middle School Boys Basketball Coach, agrees that there is great value in employing teacher- coaches. "My greatest coaches have been my teachers," he shares. "The best coaches know how to break down and teach complicated tasks. At the middle school and high school level, most players still need to be explicitly taught fundamental skills. It's not enough to say 'play better defense.' You have to teach them how to play better defense. My job as a learning specialist requires the explicit teaching of strategies. Not only do I have to teach similar strategies on the court, but I also need to coach students through frustration, uncertainty, and other feelings." As Mr. Carter notes, the skills we teach in the classroom and on the playing fields often complement each other. When I reflect on my own development as a student-athlete, both coaches and teachers helped me to understand how to work well with people, sacrifice, meet deadlines, assume challenges, manage loss, process victory with humility, and ultimately find balance. I have tried to share those same lessons with my students and athletes—especially the need to seek balance in their many competing commitments and passions as young people navigate their educational careers. I know I am in good company with that pursuit. In researching for this article, I found that Professor Karl Lindholm of Middlebury College wrote, "What I hoped for, and tried to express [as a coach], was balance—an appropriate relationship between the predominant academic obligation in schools and the extracurricular sporting commitment." 2 Helping students maintain balance is in itself a kind of balancing act for teachers and coaches. How do study and sport complement each other for Trevor students? To what degree do they mutually help outcomes before the balance is disturbed and one starts to predominate? And most importantly, how do we make sure the educational pursuit, or "academic obligation" as Professor Lindholm puts it, maintains a healthy elevation above all else? These are questions that teachers and coaches must debate and finesse at all times, and despite the added load, I have found that wearing both hats simultaneously actually makes that balancing act somewhat easier to navigate. Professors Alan Brown & Nicole Sieben contend, "Invariably, both roles are of great importance Coach McDonough with members of Middle School Softball 1. Peter Cardone and David Barth, "Ideas on Encouraging More Teachers to Serve as Coaches," NFHS, 5 Oct. 2023. 2. Karl Lindholm, "Coaching as Teaching: Seeking Balance." Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 83, no. 10 (June 2002) p. 735. TREVOR DAY SCHOOL / 41 INSIDE TREVOR TREVOR TRANSLATES FEATURE AR TICLES ALUMNI

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