People often undermine the contribution of coaches to a successful team. A great coach creates the path to greatness for their current team and many more to follow.
Varsity field hockey head coach Terry Dewing is a prime example of an inspiring coach. Dewing has had multiple players come through the program and turned them into stars. Most recently, senior Allie Curry, a University of Iowa commit, and senior Cameron Pluciennik, another D1 commit, along with many other players who also play field hockey at the collegiate level.
Dewing was raised in upstate New York, where field hockey is a popular sport; she played from when she was young and throughout college when she went to Ohio University, an NCAA Division 1 school, on an athletic scholarship.
“I made conference and New York All-State my senior year,” Dewing said. “We had the Empire State Games in which I was chosen to be on the Empire State team; it is equivalent to the mini-Olympics.”
Unlike on the East coast, field hockey is not as widespread in Illinois, with only 20 teams in the state. Since there are not that many teams in the state nor enough interest, there is a separate organization for high school field hockey, known as the Illinois High School Field Hockey Association. Due to the lack of popularity, IHSA officially stopped sponsoring field hockey in the fall of 1981, making 1982 the IHSFHA’s first year hosting a state championship. Dewing is currently the president of the IHSFHA.
Dewing has been coaching for 25 years at Antioch Community High School. In her many years of coaching, she has had many great teams and athletes, including her third and fourth place finishing teams in the 2000s, the third place finish being her most memorable moment coaching.
English teacher and former player Madelynn Soberano played for Dewing from 2012 to 2015. Soberano says that Dewing is talented at making inexperienced players great.
“She always made sure that we knew the rules, what was happening, how to read the field, and made us better players on and off the field,” Soberano said.
Even though coaches know the game, it does not mean they are able to teach it to their players. Senior Kelsie Macmillan, who has played for Dewing for four years, believes the way Dewing coaches is the best way for the team to improve.
“How hard Dewing pushes us depends on what parts of the game we are working on,” Macmillan said. “When it comes to cardio we do get pushed quite hard.”
An athlete sometimes misses a goal, or a pass is not received, but having a coach who is willing to lift them up instead of pushing them down for those mistakes helps them improve as a player and overall team.
