Even though they do not teach here, some adults just cannot keep away from teenagers. They show up every afternoon, waiting for students. They lurk in the gyms and on the fields.
Who are these people? Coaches. There are several coaches at LZHS that do not teach at the high school.
“There are advantages and disadvantages to both [working at the high school and not working there]. I don’t get to see day-to-day interaction with my kids, so we have to work extra hard to get to know who our athletes really are outside of practice,” Pam Bonnevier, varsity cheerleading coach, said. “It’s harder for the kids, I think, than for me because they only see me at practice when I’m saying ‘Do it again, do it again, do it again.’ It takes a little bit longer for them to understand and see the softer side of my personality.”
In addition to building relationships, there are differences in communication between an athlete and their coach when the coach is not in the building during the day. “The biggest difference [of having a coach who does not teach at the high school] is that normally you have your coaches at the school no matter what, so if there’s something you need to ask about a practice or meet, you can ask them right there and then,” Laura McNair, sophomore track runner, said, “but for someone not teaching at the school, you can’t ask them because, obviously, they’re not there. You can email them, but sometimes they can’t email back in time.”
Although there may be commonalities between all of the coaches who do not teach at LZHS, the advantages and disadvantages of each specific situation – not teaching at all, teaching out of district, or teaching at a different school in the district – are unique.
Not a teacher
Bonnevier is the head coach of cheerleading at LZHS and Northwestern University, and she has never been a teacher.
“Especially in cheerleading, the majority of coaches do not teach at the school [they coach at]. It’s not so prevalent in other sports, but it’s very, very common in our sport, so to me it’s not unusual,” Bonnevier said. “It doesn’t make my job more or less enjoyable. I still love my job, it’s just, you go about it a little bit different each day.”
Another effect of not being a teacher at all is that sometimes people are different in the classroom and on the field, Ashley Mangano, freshman cheerleader, said.
“Who people are in class might not be the same person as they are on the field or playing sports; [the coach] might see a different side of them,” Mangano said. “I’m really focused at cheer but not really at school. I tend to talk a lot at school, but in cheer I’m really focused and like to get the job done, so my personality changes.”
Although Bonnevier has never been a teacher, she believes she is able to understand academic stress.
“Because I coach at Northwestern where academics is always the priority, academics is always on my mind. I know the long hours that my team puts in to homework; I know that a lot of them are up until one o’clock in the morning still doing their homework or writing essays. It doesn’t affect necessarily how we run practices, but we are aware of it,” Bonnevier said. “You know when it comes to finals week or you can tell when there’s a lot going on in a week, I pay attention to that in practice and maybe modify what were working on that day sometimes because everybody’s super stressed.”
Teacher in a different district
Lance Pacernick, varsity girls’ track coach, teaches at Waukegan High School and has to make a 40 minute trip after the school day ends in Waukegan to make it to LZHS for track practice. Although the drive may be long, Pacernick said it is very inconvenient because LZHS is on his way home to Buffalo Grove, and he enjoys playing a part in two high schools.
“Waukegan and Lake Zurich are very different demographics, they’re very different high schools and communities, so it’s really interesting,” Pacernick said. “In some respects, being in two high schools is an advantage. You get to see different perspectives. When I go to a girls’ track meet in the spring, oftentimes Waukegan is competing and some kids that we coach on cross-country, we get to watch them compete and run with different programs. It’s a lot of fun for us to go to cross country meets for Waukegan and a lot of the Lake Zurich girls that we coach are there as well. You meet a lot more people and have a lot more ideas.”
Pacernick says commuting to another school for practice can be hard because he might be late, but Christine Zucker, assistant girls’ varsity track coach who also teaches in Waukegan, says that recruitment and communication are the biggest issues.
“I would say being able to recruit is hard because we can’t walk the halls,” Zucker said. “Getting information to a student athlete may be difficult because we can’t see you guys. It’s just hard.”
Different school within the district
Gary Simon, varsity boys’ baseball coach, teaches applied technology at Middle School North.
“One disadvantage [of not teaching at the high school] is when there’s something that I need to be at the high school for, it’s kind of a pain to have to get in the car and drive over there,” Simon said. “What I hate the worst is at practices and games, I get [to the high school], and I can’t get in the parking lot because all the parents are blocking the parking lot. I’ve been late for games before because I can’t get in there, so I have to try to get to the high school at 3 o’clock, so I avoid that.”
In addition to teaching in a separate building, Simon also believes a different school schedule is a downside to teaching in a different building than the high school.
“It restricts me because I can’t have early morning practice because I can’t get [to the middle school on time]. I have class [at MSN] at 7:30am, so if I went 6-7:30, I’d have to stop it early at 7,” Simon said. “And also communication, you’d like to [coach] at the school you’re at. I was the head baseball coach at Wauconda for 13 years and it’s nice to be in the same school so you can get the kids together during the day and see them in class.”
Although Simon acknowledges the disadvantages to teaching at a different school, he said there are also advantages to teaching at Middle School North.
“I get to know the kids [from MSN]. I get to know half of [the baseball players]. The kids from Middle School South I don’t get to know that much before [high school], but I really get to know the kids from [MSN] because I have them in class,” Simon said.
Even though Simon has a better initial relationship with the players from MSN, he said, in the end, it does not really matter that he never taught some players.
“I get to know the kids really, really well even just at practice, and the kids that are coming up as freshmen, I start to pick up on relationships there. Because we play all summer too, by the time the kids that are freshmen play on the sophomore team, I know them pretty well,” Simon said. “I get to know them through the game more than anything, so it doesn’t matter.”