BY ANTHONETTE MAYNARD, Freshman
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| Kuchar as a player at East Stroudsburg University |
BLYTHEWOOD-- The Blythewood High School (JV) girls’ soccer team had a brand new coach this season, Kaitlin Kuchar.
Kuchar is one of the three Physical Education coaches at BHS as well as the Personal Health teacher and the coach for the JV soccer team.
“I had coach Kuchar as a P.E. coach last semester, and she was by far my favorite coach. She actually made P.E. bearable,” freshman Taylor Johnson said.
“I love soccer, I've grown up playing soccer and now since I can't play it anymore I can help other girls play it and teach it to them,” Kuchar said.
Kuchar attended East Stroudsburg University located in Pennsylvania where she played soccer for about a year.
Kuchar’s original plan was to work at a middle school and coach soccer, but she was offered a job at BHS and preferred to coach there instead.
From the beginning of the season in February to the end of April, Kuchar noticed a difference in the team she was coaching.
“From the beginning to the end they became more like a team and played better together, and they became friends, and their skill levels have gone up as well,” Kuchar said.
Many of the girls on the team agree that Kuchar has had a positive impact on their lives and they have learned and gotten better due to the help of Kuchar.
“She has impacted my life by always giving me advice on how I can improve on soccer and she always there for me and my teammates to talk to no matter what,” freshman Katie Murphy on the JV team said.
The girls on the team are not the only ones who only feel that way. Kuchar also enjoys the presence and attitudes of the girls on the team.
“The girls are so much fun to coach, I enjoy just teaching them new things about soccer and they’re just a fun group of girls to be around,” Kuchar said.
Though Kuchar enjoys coaching, she still faces challenges as a coach, such as giving everybody equal playing time and dealing with losses,” Kuchar said.
Though Kuchar enjoys coaching, she often face challenges throughout her coaching career.
“I would say the hardest thing about coaching is trying to not make the players upset about playing time or anything like that and trying to be fair to them,” Kuchar said.
When experiencing loses Kuchar would encourage the girls and state how they could get better from there.
“Coach Kuchar has helped me improve in soccer in many ways, but the main one would be helping me to be more confident. When I first started playing on the team this year, I was still timid and hesitant about certain things but throughout the season she has helped me to be so much better,” Murphy said.
Kuchar already misses practicing and playing with the girls, but plans to continue coaching next year and strive to make each player better than they were before.
