While some Lake Braddock students chose to play or watch a sport, others show their love of the game in a different way: by coaching.

“I chose to coach because I needed the service hours,” senior Connor O’Neill said. “And I wanted to bring together a bunch of different kids and form a team from different backgrounds.”

O’Neill and many other LB students coach house league basketball for one of the many local clubs. Coaching hopefuls sign up at the league’s website and are then assigned to a team with eight players.

“They put eight kids on each team so that way each kid gets to play about equal time,” senior Daniel Fiedorek said.

Students sign up to be coaches for many different reasons, but most agree that coaching is essential to the young athletes. Letting the players learn and play the game at a young age can influence how they feel about that sport for the rest of their lives, and having a coach that gives kids a positive mentality about playing is imperative.

“The most important part [about coaching] is that the kids have a peer and a friend that they can come to and have fun with,” senior Calvin Troung said

Coaching a team may seem like a daunting and time consuming task, many teams only hold one or two practices a week, with a game on the weekend. Adding up to a couple of hours during the school week, many student coaches do not find it hard to balance coaching and their own educations.

“No, I don’t find it hard [to balance school and coaching],” Troung said, “because coaching is such a small part of my week, and school takes up the rest [of the week].”

Every coach has their own way of teaching the young players, but each one knows the main point of playing a sport is to have fun. In house leagues, every player gets the opportunity to play in games, as it is required by the league.

“I think it’s important to let the kids express themselves, because it makes it more fun for both them and me,” Fiedorek said.