Coach Phillips

Length of time teaching and coaching at HT: 14 years

 

If teaching was not your first professional career, what was? How did you transition into teaching?
After graduating from college, I worked at Cocoa Expo Sports Center running their soccer programs before joining Enterprise Rent-A-Car as a trainee manager. After a couple of months at Enterprise, I came to realize I didn't have a passion for working at the company. I was still coaching soccer at the time that a PE teaching position became available at HT.  I jumped at the opportunity. I had 10 years coaching experience so it was an easy transition.

 

What experiences or people have had the most influence on you?
I used to tell my PE teacher how lucky he was to play sports all day. I have heard the same thing said to me by my students over the years. I would ask my PE teacher if we could play soccer every day. He obviously said no, and would introduce us to a variety of sports. I can remember telling him during baseball week, that playing baseball was a waste of time and questioned when I would ever need to know about baseball.  I never would have thought that 25 years later I would be in an American school teaching it! From my experience, I like to introduce HT students to a variety of sports and activities that are played around the world.  You never know what country you may end up in.

 

In what professional development activities have you participated recently?
I have been coaching soccer 20 years and I am always looking to improve my soccer education. Through my professional development, I have recently taken two online classes. One at Drake University and one with the League Management Association in England. These courses have opened my eyes to develop a coaching philosophy, learn more about effective goal setting, organization, evaluation, and communication strategies designed to help me and my players hone the competitive edge. These classes have certainly improved me as a coach and in turn improved the soccer program at HT.

 

What is the best compliment you’ve ever received or could receive as a teacher?
One of the biggest  compliments I received  was during Peter Kara's address during the  graduation of the class of 2013. Peter was an excellent student and was going to Harvard in the fall. In his address, Peter not only talked about the outstanding academics he received from HT but he also talked about the importance of sports and how they enhanced his high school experience. Peter talked about how his PE classes, time on the basketball team and soccer team had taught him about leadership, hard work, teamwork and commitment to excellence that made him a well-rounded student athlete.