Calallen鈥檚 Sarah Pipkin-Love recognized as Texas girls soccer Coach of the Year
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Congratulations to Coach Sarah Pipkin-Love on the prestigious honor of being named Coach of the Year for girls soccer!
The National Federation of State High School Associations bestows this award to one coach in each sport for each state association. Recipients of this award reflect excellent coaching abilities on and off the athlete arena. Having the privilege of watching Coach Love work with her players and how she inspires them as players, I was curious to know what inspires her as a coach?
Her response was this鈥� It took some time to think about what it is that inspires me to coach. I believe the inspiration comes from our Lord and he will have you right where you need to be. Without him speaking through me daily, I would not be where we are today. It hasn鈥檛 been easy getting here, but now that we are, all the work is more than worth it. This wouldn鈥檛 have been possible without Chance, my husband being there every step of the way and agreeing to move from Dalhart, Texas to Corpus Christi. He said, 鈥淵ou would follow me anywhere, so I will follow you.鈥� I am pretty sure friends and family thought we were crazy to leave the life we had behind to pursue our new adventure. So here we are because of his support each day and his sacrifices motivated me to become the best that I can be.
What you must know though, is this would not have been possible without a young man talking to his parents about organ donations and because he did, my life was saved. Dillon was able to save five people that day of his accident and I was the one who received his heart. When I get up every day, I remember it is Dillon and myself doing this life together. I have been blessed to continue to live on and it is my mission to make sure he continues to live on so we can make an impact on this world. I truly believe we are doing that!! I enjoy being a motivator and being understanding of where the players are and where they want to go. Without the players, this wouldn鈥檛 be a job worth doing. Their daily drive to want to become better inspires me to continue learning and trying to figure out how we can achieve their goals.
I would not be able to do this job if it wasn鈥檛 for the support and work of all our coaches. They push me to dive into more soccer, the mental game, and how to challenge the girls to get the most from each practice. The success we have achieved is motivating to both the players, our coaching staff, and myself. When I first moved into Calallen High School, we had work to do with the soccer program. I have been fortunate to have players that bought into a program that I had only envisioned and so did their parents and our school staff. They believed in me and they believed in themselves to buy into a soccer program that together we could build a legacy. Our partnership and respect for each other, coaches to players built a successful program that I am extremely proud of for our achievements.
As for the girls and what inspires them to play? We ask them every year, 鈥淲hy are you here鈥� Why do you want to play soccer at Calallen? The most common answer we get is the love for the game and to have fun. Without those things along with the drive, we wouldn鈥檛 be the program we are today. The girls are the focus of this team and why we are successful. Each year is a unique group of players and they each bring a special impact to the team. I believe each year the team forms over time and they become closer which in turn helps them work for and with each other towards their common goal. Most importantly, I tell them to enjoy what they are doing. They spend a lot of their own time at soccer and without that dedication and enjoyment, we would not have been successful. It has taken lots of people, players, and coaches to get us to where we are and I couldn鈥檛 be more proud of the program. We have been fortunate to be successful with our many accomplishments that consistently drive the team. Thank you to all of those that believed that have helped this program along the way. We would not be here today without the Wildcat Community Support.
This year we talked about leaving a legacy and I believe that is what this Calallen soccer team is doing. Leave it better than it was when you walked on the field for the first time, It鈥檚 because of that attitude this program has grown each year to become so successful.
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