Three South Atlantic Conference Student-Athletes Picked for WBCA’s “So You Want to be a Coach Program”
"I am very grateful and honored to be chosen to participate in such a great program," said Yohn. "More importantly, I am thankful for Coach Finora nominating me and doing all she can to help me achieve my goals. This program will give me a chance to gain more knowledge of the game and network with coaches, but also represent Coker and everything we have to offer on a grand scale."
The program consists of 50 participants who were selected from those nominated by their head coaches. Yohn is the first Coker women's basketball player to be selected for the program.
"Hailey is an intelligent player that will make a great coach," said head women's basketball coach Jenny Finora. "The opportunity to be around other coaches and really live the life for a few days will be beneficial for her. The experience will be second to none and what she takes from it will only add to the success I know she will see in the profession."
Yohn, a native of Durham, N.C., currently serves as Coker's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) president and averages 7.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists for the Cobras.
Anderson's Simpson Pursues Coaching Career, Invited to "So You Want To Be A Coach" Program
ATLANTA – Senior guard Sierra Simpson is one of 58 collegiate women's basketball players to be invited to the 13th annual "So You Want To Be A Coach" program, announced by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) on Tuesday.
Simpson and the rest of the Class of 2015 will participate in the three-day workshop on April 3-5 in conjunction with the WBCA National Convention held in Tampa, Fla. The guard is one of three members from the South Atlantic Conference, as Newberry's Kaitlyn Pacholke and Coker's Hailey Yohn each received spots.
"Sierra has all the tools that will make her a successful coach," Anderson head coach Jimmy Garrity said. "She has a high basketball IQ, she is a great communicator, she is a motivator and she has an outstanding work ethic. This is a tremendous opportunity for her to network, learn and experience what others in the coaching field can pass along to her."
Simpson currently ranks second in the SAC in minutes per game (36.3) and in assists with 100 on the year. For her career, the Simpsonville, S.C. native is 73 points away from 1,000 for her career, and ranks in the top-10 in six different categories in program history. Earlier this season, Simpson was tabbed AstroTurf SAC Player of the Week for this first time in her career.
"I am very thankful to have been chosen to be a part of the program and I am extremely grateful to Coach Garrity for nominating me," Simpson said. "I look forward to networking with coaches and expanding my knowledge of the game."
The objectives of the "So" program are to increase the understanding and application of skills necessary to secure coaching positions in women's basketball, increase the understanding and awareness of competencies necessary for success in coaching, introduce female basketball players to coaches and administrators, raise awareness of the existing talent pool of female basketball players who have a passion and interest in coaching the game of women's basketball.
Qualified candidates must have exhausted their final year of basketball eligibility at a four-year institution or have graduated within the past year. In addition, the candidate's head coach has to nominate them and must be an active WBCA member. Each participant is selected based on her academics, contributions to women's basketball on and off the court, professional resume and a written recommendation from their head coach.
Sponsors for the "So" program are the WBCA and the NCAA Matching Fund for the Advancement of Ethnic Minority Women Coaches and Officials.
Kaitlynn Pacholke's family looked on anxiously from the sideline as her Freedom High School basketball team clung to a slim lead in the waning moments of the Florida 7A District 8 Championship game over heavily-favored Walter L. Sickles High School.
With every play becoming more pivotal, Sickles' best player, Amber Henson, was at the free-throw line. Henson, ESPN's No. 20 high school recruit and the younger sister of NBA player John Henson, had already accepted a full scholarship offer to Duke University. A miss from her, playing on her own court, was a long-shot.
Kaitlynn's mother, father and two sisters looked on as the ball bounced off the iron and back into Henson's hands. Before Henson could put up another shot, a pesky, energetic, and generously listed 5-foot-2 point guard seized an opportunity.
Pacholke snuck up from behind and pried away the ball from the grasp of the 6-foot-4 Henson. Henson and her teammates were then forced to foul and send Pacholke to the line she would make the crucial free throws and take the championship back to Freedom High.
It was a risk that could've sent Henson back to the line with a foul, but ended up being a play that, afterwards at least, any coach would love. This rings especially true when the coach is your own mother.
Pacholke, despite still running the hardwood at Newberry, has long held admiration for her mother and how she was able to shape her players on and off the court. She has also yearned to one day be a basketball coach, instilling the life lessons and friendships it can bring.
After seeing it first-hand in her own home, she will begin the first steps of trading in her jersey for a dry-erase board and a whistle.
Pacholke, as announced this morning, was chosen as a member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association 'So You Want to be a Coach' Class of 2015. She is one of just 58 participants spanning all three NCAA Divisions to take part in the prestigious event.
"It's a tremendous honor for her to be selected. She's extremely competitive and a lot of young coaches are trying to get into the program so it's a big achievement for her," Newberry head coach Sean Page said.
It may have been inevitable for her to follow her mother's path into coaching but Pacholke honed her game and learned the fundamentals from other coaches in school and on the AAU circuit as her mother chose to look on from afar.
"My mom didn't coach me a lot until I was in high school. She was always in the same AAU or travel ball programs, but she stayed away from me. When she got the job [at Freedom], which was closer to home, she gave me a choice to come play for her," Pacholke said.
Pacholke made the difficult choice of leaving her childhood friends and teammates and started playing under the tutelage and guidance of her own mother, Laurie Pacholke.
During her four years in high school, she also had the experience of having her father on the bench as an assistant coach and her sister, now a player at the University of South Florida, was her teammate.
After graduating high school, Pacholke chose to play basketball at Division I Jacksonville State University in Alabama but after a difficult year, she realized it wasn't the right fit and was left with a dilemma.
"I originally wanted to go to another Division I, talked to a few other coaches but my coach at JSU ended up blocking me. The athletic director helped me out and got me to where I could go to a couple other schools but by that time it was either commit right now or come next year," Pacholke said.
During the tumultuous process, coaches told her that going to junior college would be beneficial. It would allow her to play in games immediately, something not allowed without a waiver when moving between two, four-year Division I institutions and reopen her recruiting without limitations.
Taking the advice, she played a year of JUCO at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Fla., where Pacholke ended up connecting with Newberry head coach Sean Page, who was originally recruiting one of her teammates and committed to the program.
In her time at Newberry, she has donned the Scarlet and the Gray more than 50 times in her career as a point guard and a de facto coach on the floor. Despite her small stature, she confidently orchestrates the offense and leads her teammates, just like the coach she is becoming.
Between the demands of being a college student and an athlete, Pacholke also took on her first coaching role as the head coach of the Newberry Elite, an AAU squad based in town that competes at the high school level.
Her professor and former Newberry basketball assistant John Lesaine brought up the idea to her. Lesaine, the former coach, had to step away from coaching the team as he pursues a doctoral degree and after an interview with Newberry Mayor Foster Senn, she was handed the reins.
"I couldn't turn it down. Especially since I've always wanted to coach. Still being in college, it was a dream because most kids don't get to do that. I'm not going to lie, I was really nervous about it at first. I didn't have an assistant coach and was pretty much by myself but I had a lot of support from the parents," Pacholke said.
The senior's face immediately lit up with her speech becoming livelier as she explains that her team always showed great energy, was solid defensively and played smart as they often took down more talented, older teams.
Her team unknowingly embodied the qualities of their young coach still plying her trade and those same qualities at the college ranks. Off the court though, where the games of life are truly won and lost, she had earned the respect and trust from her young pupils, truly understanding what that five letter word means.
"You're a mentor, a role model to them on and off the court. I was fortunate enough through my experiences to help kids off the court. I can't tell you how many games we won or lost last season but I can tell you the memories we had or how many times one of them called me needing me. That, to me, is amazing," said Pacholke.
Those are the same moments she so often saw her mother and her players share. On the court, it was all business but off the court, it was making sure her players were safe and that she provided them with the tools to succeed in life.
As Pacholke exhausts her eligibility and hangs it up for the last time, she will pack her bags and begin the transition from player to coach.
"It's hard to go from being a player to a coach but certain players are going to make the adjustment quicker. She's got a bit of that coaches' mentality already. She was also raised around with her mom being a successful high school coach. I think she's got the ability to make that switch quickly," Page said.
The WBCA workshop is being held this year, as it is every year, at the site of the NCAA Women's College Basketball Division I Tournament. This year the 2015 tournament will be taking place in sunny Florida and in the confines of her hometown, Tampa.
Her mother will be there again, just as she was in that high school district championship game, this time as a host for one of the teams that end up in the Final Four. The veteran coach this will cheer her daughter again as she learns the trade and looks for an opportunity to chase her dream of becoming a college basketball coach.
Pacholke will again be up against a long-shot and again will look to seize the opportunity being held in front of her and take it.
About WBCA
The WBCA's membership is composed of collegiate, high school, junior high school, club, youth, national, international and Olympic coaches. Other members include former players, members of the media, sports information directors, officials and fans of the sport. The WBCA is committed to serving its members and helping to grow women's basketball by providing educational programming, networking opportunities, information and news, legislative and rules updates, and acting as the collective voice of the membership to the NCAA and other governing bodies in the sport.
About 'So You Want To Be A Coach'
The WBCA's "So You Want To Be A Coach" program assists female collegiate basketball players who are interested in pursuing a career in coaching women's basketball by providing them with professional development and career advancement through education, skills enhancement, networking and exposure opportunities. The program also increases awareness regarding the availability of talented female basketball players who want to coach.