GIRLS VARSITY SOCCER COACH DUSTIN COLEMAN

Goals: Coleman has two main goals: to score and not get scored on. Besides that, his personal goal for the team is that, “each player develops well, and that the team builds together.” He also said, “My overarching goal is that we win the league and make a great run in the state tournament.”
Enjoy: “I coach because I love the game, Coleman said. “I love the management aspect of it, I love the communication and social aspect of it, I love the elation and smiles on faces when we win, and the self reflective silence of a loss… I love my team. I love the program, and I want to see it be healthy and successful. That’s why I coach”.
Coaching Career: Coleman has been coaching soccer for 18 years.
Main Message: Coleman’s message to the team is to stay focused, work hard in every practice, and play every game with the belief that they can win no matter what team or circumstance. “Stay confident and humble, never cocky or prideful,” Coleman told his players, “You are an impressive, intelligent, and inspiring and skilled group of ladies, keep up the good work and continue to take charge this season!”
Leaders: Coleman said that every player has great character and leads with their actions daily, but their fearless leaders are captains Jill Lekosiotis, Olivia Greenslade, and Kaitlyn Godwin.

GIRLS VARSITY LACROSSE COACH DAVE HAMEL

Goals: Hamel has both outcome and process goals. Outcome goals are what they want to achieve, and process goals are how they conduct themselves to achieve the outcomes. “Our outcome goal each year is to win the OAA White championship,” Coach Hamel said. His process goals are “to improve every day and over the course of the season; and to have fun”.
Enjoy: Hamel loves his teams attitude. “I have given them lots of new and challenging strategies to learn,” Hamel said. “They have done a great job of learning as quickly as they can while still playing hard and having fun.”
Coaching Career: Hamel has been a coach for over 15 years.
Main Message: “My main messages for the girls is to have fun, be courageous, and take care of each other,” Hamel said. “To excel at anything, we can’t be afraid to fail.” He also said that how well people get along with and look out for each other influences how wonderful the season can be.
Leaders: There are four seniors on Girls Soccer who were selected by their teammates as captains, Kyleigh McCarthy, Ava Harding, Erin Robinson, and Martha Kuitula. Hamel said they are doing a wonderful job of leading the team “both by the emotional tone they set for their teammates and their level of play during games and practices.”

VARISTY TRACK COACH AMY OPPAT

Goals: Oppat said that the more elite athletes have several goals. “[They’re] looking to do some pretty important things, reach some personal records, possibly even qualify for state meets, and then get to travel to Grand Rapids at the end of the season for the state qualification meet.”
Enjoy: “I enjoy seeing people work hard, I enjoy seeing passion, I enjoy seeing their results from just cutting off a second in a race,”Coach Oppat said. “I also love seeing people’s thrill when they jumped farther or higher than they ever did or thrown farther than they ever did.”
Coaching Career: Oppat has been coaching track at Rochester High for 10 years, but she coached for 4 years before that.
Main Message: Oppat wants to teach commitment, teamwork, problem solving and hard work.
Leaders: For the Boys Track team, Cameron Wright, Drake Reid and Jackson Miller are team captains. For leaders on the Girls Team, Oppat said that Brooke Coulter, Liz Bulat and Maya Smith have done a great job leading the team.

WORDS OF WISDOM

“Coaching is a delicate balance of celebrating and developing. We can be happy with the result and still learn how to do even better.” -Dustin Coleman

“I try to handle adversity collaboratively; trying to solve the conflict in a creative way where everything is a win-win situation is my goal.” -Dustin Coleman

“How we go about our business really defines who we are and what kind of experience our players have.” -Dave Hamel

“I don’t focus nearly as much on winning as on how…we prepare and how we play. Those are the only things we can control… if we do those things well, the winning takes care of itself.” -Dave Hamel

“[My goal is to build] a really great foundation for the teams moving forward after this year and allowing people the opportunity to work hard and see improvements.” -Amy Oppat