Joining the Germantown Academy faculty this year is Coach Colleen Dawson, Athletics Associate for Student Development and Director of Lacrosse. Having previously coached at various colleges such as William and Mary, St. Joseph’s and Loyola University, Coach Dawson comes to GA with a different perspective, eager for the lacrosse season.
“I’m looking forward to really starting to work with the girls lacrosse program,” Coach Dawson said. “A lot of [the players] are also fall sport athletes, so they’re focused on sports right now, which obviously is an adjustment coming from the college game. So I’m excited for when fall sports wind down, and we can pick up with lacrosse in the winter.”
The lacrosse players are just as excited as Coach Dawson to start playing lacrosse. They are looking forward to working with Coach Dawson in the upcoming seasons.
“A good coach has the ability to balance being fun and energetic with being intense and serious,” Sydney Wanner ‘25 said. “I’m really excited for this season because Coach Dawson has a lot of really good plans, and I think she’s gonna really do well here at GA and benefit the girls younger than me,”
In her job, Coach Dawson loves helping kids thrive and providing them with advice they can carry past just the sport. One of her favorite things about coaching is that sports can be a way to teach people a wide array of skills that can help them for their entire lives.
“The part of coaching that’s fun is developing skills and teaching people life lessons through sports and all those things,” Coach Dawson said. “So when you’re playing sports, you’re going to face adversity, it’s going to be challenging, you’re going to struggle with confidence. Those are all things that you’re going to deal with in life… So I think building that culture is really exciting, and getting people to a place where they’re confident in themselves and their ability.”
Coach Dawson takes a unique perspective on lacrosse and athletics, believing that a growth mindset is a key factor in having a successful team. Making sure everyone is pushing themselves, working to get better and learning from others is, in her opinion, crucial to keeping everyone playing their best.
“Having that internal motivation and the internal competitiveness to be like, ‘we’re gonna get better every single day,’” Coach Dawson said. “Just taking that mindset of how you can learn from people, how you can constantly grow and that we are always evolving all through life… So just having that kind of growth mindset is really important.”
Coach Dawson also strongly believes in good relationships between players and coaches, defining a good coach as someone who creates personal connections with their team. She feels that having coaches remember that everyone is just a person can greatly help their performance both on and off the playing field.
“Just knowing kids on the individual level [makes a good coach], knowing what motivates them, what makes them tick,” Coach Dawson said. “And thinking about people like they’re people first; they’re not students, they’re not just athletes, they’re people, and coaches are also people… Just treating everybody like they’re a person before they’re a student, or before they’re an athlete, and making sure that they’re okay and going to be okay moving forward.”
Overall, Coach Dawson’s advice to everyone is simple: she reminds everyone of the importance of being kind to themselves.
“Be easy on yourself,” Coach Dawson said. “You can always be your own biggest critic, right? In all of life, you’re really hard on yourself for everything you do… but you would never say what you’re telling yourself to a friend. So give yourself some grace, be easy on yourself, and just try your best.”