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Saturday, December 1, 2007
Coach By Day Mom By Night
Greater Reading, PA
By: Sam Harris
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Photo(s) By: Kyle Danztler/MyActionPortraits.com
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Wilson Coach Doretta Sheaffer and her daughter, Kim, a sophomore, embraced tearfully after winning the 2007 Berks County Field Hockey Championship in October, Wilson’s first since 1973. Back in 2004, Kim told her mom, “We’re going to win the county championship when I play for you and I’m going to score.” This was a sweet victory, but the journey here wasn’t without road bumps.
Sheaffer has been coaching field hockey at Wilson for 22 years, 11 of those as head coach. No surprise then that Kim had a hockey stick in her hand at the age of two. By the time Kim was in 6th grade, she was playing Futures. This was also the time when her mom began coaching her in the sport.
After playing in the District Final a few years ago, Sheaffer considered retiring from coaching. Kim urged her not to; she wanted her mom to coach her in high school. Mom’s response, “We’ll take one year at a time.”
Kim started varsity as a freshman, but she felt that because she was coach’s daughter, she had to work twice as hard to prove herself. Sheaffer agrees. “I’m tougher on her. She can make 1 mistake and everyone else gets 3.” Kim didn’t start in the first two scrimmages her freshman year. “You have to earn your spot,” her mother told her. After the second scrimmage, the assistant coach approached Sheaffer and told her that there was a problem, the best player wasn’t on the field. “Kim should be starting. She’s earned it.”
Midway through her freshman season, Kim became ill and was sidelined for the rest of the season. It started with swollen quads which had her out for two weeks. Then she was sick with the flu. When she didn’t get better, she was checked for mono. It wasn’t mono, the flu had moved into her muscles. It traveled throughout her body. When it was in her arms, she couldn’t write or dress herself. When it was in her legs, she had difficulty walking and had to be carried. “It was very, very scary. We were back and forth to Children’s Hospital.” She missed 35 days of school and wasn’t cleared to play sports again full-time until this summer.
Wilson did play in the championship game in 2006, without Kim. “It broke my heart to see her sitting on the bench. But after winning the championship this year, with Kim on the field, it seemed right. She was supposed to be a part of this.” And, yes, Kim scored (in penalty strokes), just as she had predicted.
Kim, the only sophomore on the varsity squad, says that the team has been supportive of her. She doesn’t feel as though the girls treat her differently as coach’s daughter. Once mom and daughter leave the locker room, there’s no more game talk. Well, they sometimes talk strategy and opponents’ tendencies. “Kim knows a lot of the field hockey players on the other teams. She’s played with many of them in Futures.”
There’s pride in her voice as Mom lists Kim’s strengths: speed and stick work. She plays right wing and uses her speed on the outside. Kim takes a lot of hits on the corners for the team.
Kim plans to play field hockey in college and, perhaps, become a coach someday herself. As for mom and daughter stepping on the field next season, Sheaffer already has a goal set. “We’ve just tied the record with Boyertown for consecutive division titles with 6.” Yes, it would be nice to reach lucky number 7.
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