Picture this; a scoreboard reads 6-0, Delaware Military Academy field hockey is playing Red Lion field hockey. DMA field hockey is ahead, and the buzzer rings; the girls run from the sidelines to meet their goalie on the field. They have won their final game of the season. Behind the girls, you see a Coach, standing proud. That Coach is Coach Carly Radziewicz. Coach Carly has always helped me as a person and player, helped her team work hard and have a team mentality, and helped the other girls on the team too. Because of this, I have nominated her for Educator of the Year. 

    To begin, Coach Carly has helped me become a better player and teammate. She helped me learn many new skills and even after just one year of playing for her, I have learned and grown so much in the sport I love. It all started during preseason. Though the whole team was learning, I know I grew as a player in that short amount of time. Through the workouts, the practices, and the team bonding, I knew this would be a great season because of the coach that led it all. Just those few weeks made me a much better and stronger player. They also introduced me to a coaching style I had never seen before. The years before I came to DMA, my coaches would tend to focus on the better players, but with Coach Carly, she made sure everyone was always learning and included; this especially helped me. Every single time I asked for advice on how to be a better and stronger player, she never hesitated to give me some of the best advice I had ever heard. Not only did she help me as a player, she helped me with anything I needed on the field. When we needed a girl to do ball-girl for the varsity games, she helped me give everyone equal time doing ball-girl. Not to mention that every single drill she had us do helped me become better. They helped with my speed and just generally gave me better skills on the field. Overall, Coach Carly has helped me become a better player and teammate. 

    Coach Carly didn’t just help me; she helped so many other people on the team too. For instance, one of our players gets constant shin splints. Coach helped her learn stretches and techniques to help alleviate the pain. There were also some new players on the team this year who had never even picked up a stick before. Despite being new, Coach Carly never gave up on them. She taught them what they needed to learn in order to keep up with the more experienced players, and allowed them to have equal opportunities as the experienced players. She constantly helped my teammates grow in confidence of their skills. She helped us freshman learn how our team at Delaware Military Academy works. She always kept drama off the field which allowed for a great and drama-free season. Another thing that made some of the other players feel more included was the treatment between junior varsity and varsity. Coach never treated the two teams differently. She had the same attitude toward junior varsity as she did toward varsity. When I made junior varsity, I wasn’t upset about it because there wasn’t any special treatment towards varsity, and I know my fellow junior varsity players felt the same way. It pushed us to work towards the goal of playing varsity next year. 

    Coach Carly was always making our team better. She always made sure we worked well together and as a team. She gave us constant bonding opportunities throughout the summer and the season. From team runs, to workouts, to pool parties, she made sure we were seeing each other in an environment that wasn’t necessarily sports-related. She got us ready for a great season by keeping us in shape with workouts and runs during preseason. She taught every girl who did summer league new things and gave us a preview as it how the season would look. Coach Carly made us work and think like a team by having us keep drama off the field and including everyone. We never broke off into cliques during practices because we knew that that wasn’t how a team acted. She even used an app to keep us on the same page for games and events that were coming up. Coach Carly made sure we paid attention during practice, andwe always learned something while we were there. One thing that really stood out to me during this season was that she always had practices as a team. She never separated junior varsity from varsity, which a lot of coaches wouldn’t do. Overall, she made us all better people, players, and teammates. 

    In conclusion, Coach Carly helped me learn and grow as a player, helped others through their rough patches, and helped our team think and act as one. She made mine & my teams’ season one to remember. For every reason I have listed and so many more, I believe that Coach Carly Radziewicz is an excellent nominee for Educator of the Year.