A COACH FOR ALL SEASONS THREE-WEEK
PRACTICE PERIOD KEEPS THOSE INVOLVED IN MORE THAN ONE SPORT HOPPING
Publication: THE
Published: 06/29/2007
Page: 1B
Headline: A COACH FOR ALL SEASONS THREE-WEEK PRACTICE PERIOD KEEPS THOSE
INVOLVED IN MORE THAN ONE SPORT HOPPING
Byline: RICK RYAN
rickryan@wvgazette.com
When you're rolling out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, you might also
want to roll out a cot for some coaches who are pulling double duty.
During the current three-week approved summer practice period for state high
schools, a variety of sports get crammed into the same time frame.
For coaches involved in more than one sport, it can get quite, well, crazy.
Take Scott Tinsley, Nitro's coach for all seasons.
He's the only man or woman at a Kanawha Valley school to serve as head coach in
three sports, one for each season - football (fall), girls basketball (winter)
and softball (spring). So when summer workouts roll around, Tinsley finds
himself juggling like mad.
Several times during the three-week period - which concludes Saturday - Tinsley
coached all three sports in a single day.
Tinsley would attend Nitro's girls basketball workouts
from 9-11 a.m., while the football team went through weight-lifting and
conditioning drills under the guidance of assistant coaches Mike Scott and
Chris Higginbotham. Tinsley would then move over to the football field for
actual practice from 3-5 p.m. before taking off to the softball field next to
the high school for 6 p.m. doubleheaders.
Then, of course, there are special events that call for extended hours, such as
the football team attending the annual 7-on-7 passing camp in Morgantown last
week (and finishing second, its best showing ever), or the St. Albans Summer
Shootout girls basketball showcase held Thursday.
"There isn't a whole lot of down time," Tinsley said. "Nobody
makes us do it. We choose to do it. It's definitely a full day. But a full day
coaching is a good day."
Three other Kanawha Valley head coaches find themselves bouncing between two
sports this time of year - Eddie Fisher of Sissonville (softball, volleyball),
Paul Sutherland of Winfield (volleyball, girls basketball) and Tom Watkins of
Riverside (boys basketball, softball).
Fisher has found a way to balance his daily work schedule with duties as
Sissonville coach - but there's a catch.
"It leaves me very little time for sleep," said Fisher, who works in
the Charleston Newspapers circulation department. "The way my schedule is,
I work seven days a week. I have to squeeze in sleep time.
"But it's all for them [the athletes] in this period. I told them if
they're out there, I'll be there. If they don't show up, I won't waste my time.
But there have been enough to where it's been worth my while, and I'm glad to
make the sacrifice."
Fisher said he's received a bigger turnout from prospective volleyball players
than softball, but there are mitigating circumstances. The softball season only
recently ended, and several of his players compete in summer leagues and on
traveling teams.
"It's harder to get them out," he said of the softball players.
"We had seven show up [Tuesday], and that was a
pretty good number. The 90-degree heat doesn't help, either."
Fisher has seen as many as 19 athletes show up for volleyball workouts, buoyed
by a large crop of ninth graders.
"This three-week period, over the years, has been real good for me in
volleyball," he said, "especially for the new people coming in. We
use this time a lot to show them the drills and some other things so come
August, we don't have to go through the teaching part of that. They can go
right to it."
Fisher is able to overlap workouts for the two sports by about 15 to 20 minutes
so that there's less down time for him between duties.
"It can be tough at times," Fisher said, "and I try to work around
the girls' schedules to a certain point, but I'm not going to go home and come
back. They do a good job of trying to help me with the schedule."
Sutherland carries a different outlook than most coaches when it comes to the
three-week practice window, now in its fifth year. He realizes that his players
have a lot more on their plates this time of year other than offseason workouts.
Some have summer jobs. Others are on vacation, or competing on AAU or travel
teams. Athletes who participate in more than one sport also have more than one
coach tugging at them to show up for drills.
"I don't like it, myself, having the three-week period defined like
that," Sutherland said, "but I like the fact the SSAC broke down and
let coaches work with players when they can.
"I'm laid back. A lot of people wouldn't believe that, but when it comes
to this [practice period], the older I get, the more laid back I get. If
[players] have other things to do - family vacations, whatever - I tell them to
do it. I'm not worried about it. We've been successful without having that
three-week period before. As long as they have the ball in their hands some,
it's no big deal."
Last year, Sutherland's teams won the Class AA state title in volleyball and
lost in the basketball championship game.
Sutherland said he'd rather have the SSAC allow schools to divide up the 21
practice days in other ways - say, having football and volleyball hold their
workouts in July leading up to the season, then take a week off before
preseason drills in August. He'd like to see track, softball and baseball teams
use their time right after their respective seasons end, while they're still in
that mode.
That's one way, he said, you could avoid a tug-of-war between coaches vying for
the same athletes at the same time each summer.
"To cram all the sports into three weeks is a tough thing,"
Sutherland said. "Some coaches just coach a little harder. I've got some
players pressured by other coaches to perform for them, and I just back off on
that. I don't believe in it. Plus, I've always felt that people who play two,
three sports [at once] are at a higher risk for injury. Some people are
die-hards who try to do it all."
Sutherland got a better turnout for volleyball this month, holding four or five
practices a week and getting between 13-18 players.
In basketball, he worked a lot with the program's younger players and entered a
team in league play on Mondays. He also took a squad to the St. Albans
Shootout, but was minus four of the seven regulars who will return this winter.
One of his basketball returnees, Stevie Cooper, had a
good reason for being absent. Sutherland said Cooper, a 6-foot blonde, had
signed a modeling contract and was in
To contact assistant sports editor Rick Ryan, use e-mail or call 348-5175.