Now that the fall sports season has ended, it is time to crown Springfield Township High School’s first-ever coaches of the season.
Following his excellent first season as head coach of the Spartan girls’ tennis team, Don Gaskins was awarded the male coach of the season for his positive impact within the Suburban One League. Coach Lauren Lesmeister was awarded female coach of the season for her work as head coach of the girl’s volleyball team, who, in their inaugural season, showcased perseverance and positive attitudes throughout their first campaign as a team.
Mr. Ferraro, the athletic director of Springfield Township High School, is responsible for choosing the coaches of the season. Mr. Ferraro was impressed with how Coach Gaskins “really jumped into the athletic department fast. He’s a new coach to us, but he knew many of our policies and procedures immediately because he took time to learn them.”
This professionalism was a big part of why he was the coach of the season. For junior Marli de Andrade, what she liked about Coach Gaskins was that “he made the practices super fun, but also challenging.” She says, “he truly made me a better tennis player and made me enjoy tennis more than I thought I could.” She has continued to play tennis with people on the team after the season is over.
As for Mrs. Lesmeister, Mr. Washam, her assistant coach, was impressed by “the amount of growth that they made from the beginning of the season to the end; the season was remarkable.” Coaching is challenging, but trying to direct a group who have never played with each other before is very difficult. Luckily, Coach Lesmeister was up to the challenge and helped the girls in a historic first year.
Mr. Ferraro added, “Coach Lesmeister’s coach tactics were exactly what the girls needed; with all different types of experience, she had to make sure all of the players improved their play and had fun.”
Mr. Ferraro wraps it up by complimenting both coaches as “someone that can emulate what we’re trying to do here and effect that change into the kids.”
