Coaching Crazy College Kids

 

Shannon Hertz

  It's 2:00pm on a warm spring afternoon as the BU women's lacrosse team heads out to the field to warm up. As the athletes anxiously wait for head coach, Shannon Hertz, to walk out to begin practice, they do a warm up lap along with some stretching. The clock strikes 2:15 and the girls see Coach Hertz with her extensive, black sunglasses on and her dark, black hair tied back and ready to work. She is happily strutting into Steph Pettit Stadium ready to have a great practice. The girls wonder how coach always seems to be in a good mood for practice time, but what they don't know is that they are what brings her mood and energy up. 

    

    "What made you decide you wanted to become a college coach," Julia compulsively asked. 

    Shannon paused to think, "Just being around the student-athletes that I have the honor of working with. I love to see the light bulb go off in their head when they figure out how to run a play or understand how to play defense. I just love the relationships I have with all of my girls."

    "What would you do if you weren't a college coach?"

    She taps her finger on her desk attempting to think of a response, " I honestly don't know what else I would do, I would probably be a stay at home mom. Being a coach to this team doesn't feel like work."

Coach Hertz's office door

    Coach Hertz isn't just a coach, but she is also a mother to 2 kids so she understands how hard it can be on kids to be in school and involved in sports. Most people don't realize how much a college coach does outside of the field. Everyone just naturally assumes that they just show up to practice with a practice plan and that's it. At least not for Coach Hertz its not. There are multiple duties that come along with being a college coach that involve a lot of planning. Coaches must recruit, plan the offseason, make sure their players are both physically and mentally doing okay, as well as making sure their academics are on track. If you walk into her office, you will find paperwork scattered across her desk, plays and notes scribbled all over her whiteboard, positive quotes written all over her walls, and even a couch for her players to sit on when they come to her for advice. She always has positive quotes and study hall sheets for her girls on her office door because she believes that happiness and school comes before lacrosse. During practice one of her players was having a bad shooting day and wasn't making any goals. Coach caught saw her getting frustrated and pulling herself out of drills. Coach bellowed at her "go run a lap, we don't bring ourselves down," because she doesn't like to hear any negativity even if it's coming from the player herself. 

    One of her biggest philosophies is "always strive to be the best version of yourself." She lives off of this and is always pushing all of her athletes so they can be the best they can be. She also is a huge advocate for having a positive environment and players. If she hears any negativity, she dismisses it immediately. She believes "if my players come in good people and leave better people," then she did her job correctly. Being apart of this team and being coached by Coach Hertz isn't like any other team I've met, she made her girls a family and they all support one another to no end. 

2022 Fall Ball Team

    As practice ends everyday, there is not a day that goes by where coach doesn't huddle the team up to give them a pep talk that always ends with "go be awesome," because she wants everyone to know how much potential they have in and out of lacrosse. Being apart of this team has brought me so many life long friends and taught me so much already and it's all accredited to Coach Hertz.