Fifth Edition Marquis Who’s Who INSIGHT 15 INSIGHT MARQUIS WHO′S WHO FIFTH EDITION How have you navigated disruptions in your industry to remain a top professional? When it came to discipline in the early days, I was always upset with some of my fellow teachers who swatted kids. If it didn’t work the first time, it won’t work a second time. At the end of my career, swatting was no longer allowed anyway by the mid-1990s. Football was also not a program at the junior high level. The soccer players were the most respected kids in the school, but if they got in trouble with me or any other teacher, I would have to discipline them. The first time they would do 20 wind sprints, the second time I benched them for a game, and a third time they were off the team. A good portion of the kids would follow the lead of the soccer team, and I was thankful that I had such good kids on my team. They admired me, and their classmates admired them because our school won the soccer championship year after year. I always had great team managers too — they were kids who could lead their classmates. What is the most important issue/challenge you are dealing with in your industry? I wanted to be the best role model for the students. Most of them had good role models with their parents, but not all of them did. I just wanted to be a role model and let them know that I respected them and their families. I told the kids I was honest with them. I think patience and tolerance are very important, especially when teaching history. I taught history at the beginning of my career, and at the end, I taught math and science. How do you feel your industry has changed/evolved? In a way, I’m glad I’m not coaching anymore. I was involved in junior high, not high school, so the competition aspect was important. I think there should be more co-ed sports, though, and it should be more instructive rather than competitive. Contact sports have to be all male or female, but noncontact sports should be more co-ed, like volleyball. That is at the junior high level, but as we move up in age that might be harder to do. I can only speak to the junior high level. I think sportsmanship is the best thing to teach. I had a unique position as a coach — I had a problem that most coaches wish they had, in that I had too many kids trying out for soccer. I was forced to cut kids that I knew would start for any other team. Every other team we played had about 15 to 18 kids on the team, and I felt blessed that I had so many kids try out. We were the best team in the city every year. What excites you the most about your industry? Just watching the students grow. I was also happy that the high school was right next door to our track, so we would always practice right after school. It also let me see so many kids who I coached years before. Even though I was coaching the boys at the time, the girls and boys practiced together, so I could always help out the girls, and the other coaches would help out with my boys.
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