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Monday, November 3, 2008
A Marriage of Coaching and Cheering
Fort Worth, TX
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Football coaches often get the support
They say that behind every successful high school football coach is a wife that serves as his biggest cheerleader. For Harvest Christian Academy coach Steven Sylvia, that idea takes on a whole new meaning.
While most high school coaches receive support from their wives by means of listening to recounted stories of the week’s struggles in practice or by sitting in the stands at games most Friday nights, Sylvia’s spousal support comes through loud and clear via the chants and cheers delivered to the boys on his team at each contest.
Sylvia’s wife, Jennifer, is the cheerleading coach at Harvest, a Watauga-based private school. She took on the role this year after her husband took the job as head football coach for the Saints in 2007, a move Steven Sylvia said has only strengthened a marriage that was already strong.
“It’s great to have her support, but also to experience what I’m going through,” said Steven, an eight-year football coach who previously served at Arlington Heights High School and in the Keller ISD. “She’s not just hearing about it at the end of the week, she’s seeing it firsthand.
“I can look at her and she can look at me when I’m on the field and she can tell how I’m doing and what I’ve been through,” he said. “I think that it’s made us closer.”
Although reluctant at first to become the school’s cheer coach, a job she hadn’t performed in several years, Jennifer Sylvia is now very thankful she accepted the offer. Not only does she enjoy teaching the Harvest girls about spirit, leadership and routines to motivate the crowds and the team, but she also enjoys seeing her husband’s profession from a different point of view.
“Last year, I was still at games and supporting him, but this year I feel more engaged,” she said. “When the team’s down, it’s much more personal and we want to get the crowd into it and give them support.
“[The cheerleaders] know I have a more personal stake in it, because I’m going to have to spend the weekend with my husband, whether he’s in a good mood or bad mood,” she said, laughing.
The couple’s current roles for Harvest bring back memories of high school for both of them. Although neither dreamed they would be in this position, their jobs are similar to their lives in high school.
Sweethearts while attending Richland High in North Richland Hills, Jennifer was a cheerleader and Steven an athlete. A football player that turned his attention to baseball after an injury, Steven began dating Jennifer 18 years ago and the two were married four years later.
Leading the popular high school programs for the Saints is something they feel God has called them to do. Guiding students at a Christian school has a different feel from coaching and instructing at a 4A or 5A public school, Steven said, and having his spouse teaching similar objectives to teenage girls that he tries to impress on teenage boys has helped strengthen both their efforts.
“We’re both trying to instill the same values into these kids,” he said, mentioning things such as hard work, dedication, teamwork and selflessness. “The most important thing I want to do is instill character and teach them life lessons. To know I taught them something meaningful is a lot more important to me than just the wins and losses.”
Jennifer said leadership is an important aspect that she wants to develop in her cheerleaders, as well as encouraging them to set good standards for the rest of the student body and to make positive choices.
A cheer coach 12 years ago while in college, Jennifer said some of the attitude regarding cheerleading has changed since she was last involved. She’s trying to open her girls’ eyes to see it as an actual sport in itself and not just a social activity. Though it takes more work and tiring exercise, they’ve been receptive to their coach’s objectives.
And though it means more time at school outside of the teaching that she and her husband both do at Harvest as well, it’s been worth it, Jennifer said.
“This has been nice to do this together, because his hours as a football coach are so long,” she said. “It’s nice to have this involvement.”
Steven and Jennifer’s two daughters are also at Harvest, as their older daughter was attending the school before either began serving there themselves. With fourth grader Regan and first grader Skylar at school with them throughout the day, the Sylvia’s enjoy working and raising their kids at a school with a tight-knit atmosphere.
“It’s great to have my whole family involved,” Steven said. “I enjoy the relationship I have with the [student athletes]. ... With it being a private school and being smaller, we’re like a family, too.” •
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