Dec. 11, 2022 — A tough yr for discipline hockey retirements

Final week’s bulletins of quite a few discipline hockey coaches selecting to retire from varsity teaching has enervated the teaching data base right here within the U.S.

In fact, we knew this could be the final go-round for 50-year head coach Karen Klassner at Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) and 42-year head coach Ann Simons at Longmeadow (Mass.).

However final week, the retirement bulletins accelerated. Not solely did we lose 42-year North Carolina head coach Karen Shelton, however there was a cluster of retirements in Southern Maine that left a void of three-quarters of a century’s price of expertise.

Lori Smith is leaving Saco Thornton Academy (Maine) after 25 years, Michelle Martin-Moore is leaving after 22 years at Waterboro Massabesic (Maine), and Beth Arsenault is leaving after a 23-year profession throughout which she not solely coached Portland, however the Portland-Deering co-op group.

Every of those three Downeast coaches have had their very own impacts through the years, even with out getting the final word satisfaction of successful a state championship. They’ve constructed their packages, affected lives, and made their expenses higher individuals.

Arsenault is credited with beginning the Southern Maine Athletic Affiliation preseason playday 20 years in the past, which introduced the entire groups within the league collectively for a day’s price of preseason friendlies. Smith served on the Maine Area Hockey Affiliation’s board of administrators and has served as a regional chair for the Nationwide Area Hockey Coaches’ Affiliation.

For me, I feel the retirements of so many discipline hockey coaches over the previous couple of years has as nice (if not better) affect off the sector, since coaches and coaches’ associations do quite a lot of the grunt work on the subject of advocacy, recognition, and the betterment of the game nationwide, even towards forces which have conspired to marginalize it.