Emily Gaeta and Izzy Nesbett, Reporters
@emilygcourant and @izzyncourant
Though student athletes spend hours a day with their coaches, many of them don’t know much about their coaches’ lives outside of practice. Unbeknownst to many of these student athletes, many of their coaches have intense athletic backgrounds.
Kelly Marks
Kelly Marks, the head Field Hockey coach, grew up in Pennsylvania, the field hockey hotspot of the United States. Kickstarting her field hockey career in seventh grade, Marks played with the indoor field hockey team X-Calibur, which is currently the highest ranked indoor team in the nation.
Towards the end of her junior year of high school, Coach Marks made the decision to play Division 1 field hockey. “I want to learn, I want to grow, I want to be in with the best,” Marks said. Shortly after transferring to the University of Albany she became co-captain of the field hockey team and helped to lead them to the NCAA Final Four.
Despite taking a break from field hockey after college, last December Marks got a spot playing right defensive back on the U.S. Women’s National Developmental Squad. “The games growing every single day so I’m constantly trying to adjust what I’ve learned, what I’m learning, and what I can do in the future,” said Marks.
Bill Martin
Bill Martin, the boys’ cross country and track coach at the high school is a three-time Olympic trials qualifier, Olympic finalist, and Iona College Hall of Fame inductee, and a Westchester County Hall of Fame nominee..
Initially Martin did not plan to run in high school. “It turned out that the football team was not my thing at the highschool level so I went out for running” said Martin
Martin continued to run in Division 1 college and made the All-American team a total of six times due to his record-breaking performances in the 800-meter race. His biggest accomplishment is a “Second place finish to the number one ranked half miler in the world.”
After 33 years of coaching track at colleges and universities for track, martine was hired by Jay Egan to coach, not only for track, but also cross country. He says coaching cross country is different because it is more focused on the psychological aspects of running than the technicalities.
In Martin’s free time, he coaches kids aged 9-14 year olds for the Blazers, a community running program in New Canaan. He said the younger kids have, “more excitement, more enthusiasm, and more appreciation for learning.”
After 39 years of coaching, Bill Martin said, “not every kid comes to the table with the same skill set you have to work a lot to find what the hot buttons are for each kid, that’s kind of the thing that keeps me going, keeps me young”
Katherine Munson
Katherine Munson, English teacher and head coach of the girls swimming team at NCHS. She went from being a student-athlete to a teacher-coach.
In her junior year at Bucknell Munson’s most memorable moment was breaking the school record in the 200 fly. Getting first place in the 200 fly solidified the team’s win against rival Colgate.
Although Munson had not originally considered coaching, when NCHS offered her the assistant swim coach position she took it. “When you compete in a sport for 17 years it becomes a very much apart of you,” said Munson.
Munson is a big supporter of team sports and being a student-athlete. “It is important to have something outside of school that you are passionate about,” she said.
Munson’s most memorable moment coaching was when Jenna Egan went last for the last event of the meet and won by .02 seconds to solidify the teams second place finish.
For Munson, swim practice is a relief from the stress of daily life. “Practice can actually be a nice escape from teaching,” Munson said.
