Woodstock
One thing hasn’t changed: Wannop never completely left the Wasps. And in their time of need, she and her former junior varsity assistant are coming to the team’s rescue.
Wannop and Jane Hoisington agreed on Tuesday to, at a minimum, take over the Woodstock program for fall workouts in the absence of a varsity candidate.
Quaron Pinckney, Woodstock’s new athletic director of barely a week, had two potential replacements for departed coach Annie Doton fall through last weekend; with practices scheduled to start today and no other coaching options apparent, Wannop and Hoisington said they’d help.
Wannop, a former Woodstock AD herself, gave up coaching after the 2012 season following 18 years at the helm of the field hockey Wasps. Hoisington was Wannop’s JV coach the last four years, continuing in that role for two autumns after that before dropping back to middle school coaching.
Hoisington has remained close to the Wasps because she coaches many of them in the spring with softball. Wannop remained close because of her interest in the school and its field hockey team.
“When I was in town, I went to as many games as I could,” Wannop said in a phone interview from Osterville, Mass., the Cape Cod town where she and her husband have been spending the summer. “I love the field hockey. John was retiring, and the hardest thing is starting (a season) in mid-August. When you’re retired, it’s a little easier to stay in places and do summer and have flexibility. …
“I watch these girls every year from the other side. I think there’s always talent on the field. You can just see the kids who love field hockey. I hope I can step in and help propel those girls.”
Although she has vast experience in the game as both a player and coach, Wannop referred to herself “the freshman coming in who doesn’t know the team.” That’s where Hoisington comes into play.
“Wendy and I are committed to seeing the program continue to be successful,” Hoisington said on Tuesday. “Both of us, I think, have been keeping in touch about it when nobody else (was hired). It’s the last minute now; we’d like to step up and try to re-establish it. Neither of us had planned on doing it.”
Woodstock has undergone a lot of athletic transition this summer. Pinckney took over for Justin Wardwell as Woodstock AD on Aug. 8 and, for a first task, still needed to lock down coaches for field hockey and cross country. Susannah Colby agreed to assume the latter job this week.
Field hockey, however, turned tenuous when two candidates informed Pinckney last weekend that they’d taken offers for jobs elsewhere. Pinckney said he understood apprehension among field hockey players and parents was growing. Those connections helped bring about the current solution.
“I sent an email blast to parents in the program; obviously, there were some questions with no preseason schedule yet, no coach yet,” Pinckney said this week. “A couple of parents were reaching out to me to help. Jane, who was on the hiring committee for our cross country coaches, reminded me that she coached middle school field hockey. I talked to her about possibly moving up and seeing what she could come up with to help us out in a pinch.”
Because of the late hire and ongoing family commitments, Wannop and Hoisington won’t hold their first Woodstock workout until Monday, five days after the rest of Vermont’s schools start practices. It should still be plenty of time to get the Wasps up to speed, as they don’t play their first game until Sept. 5 at Brattleboro. Pinckney held a meeting with field hockey parents and players on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, the Woodstock cupboard will hardly be bare. The Wasps didn’t lose anyone to graduation. Woodstock’s top three scorers (MacKenzie Yates, Lili Sorrentino, Khara Brettell) should return. Doton guided the Wasps to a 6-6-3 record in 2017, which followed a Woodstock run to the VPA Division II finals in ’16; a number of players from that team will be juniors and seniors this season.
“It’ll be great; she was my coach, and I had a great experience with her,” said Doton, who recently took a job teaching social studies at Hartford High. “I obviously love those girls; I would love to still be working with them, but I can’t be fully present when I’m working at another school. They deserve to have someone present and being there, not getting in at 3 o’clock when practice starts. Wendy was a great mentor and coach, and she set me up to have a successful field hockey career.”
Wannop retains belief that a more permanent solution will present itself in the future. “I’m happy to help, but I do hope there is somebody else out there coming along with a future in coaching,” she said. “But this is what is needed.”
What Woodstock gets in Wannop is a coach with a 198-74-16 career record, three state championships and four other visits to the finals. Reminded of her proximity to 200 career victories, Wannop couldn’t help but laugh.
“It would be nice if I could win at least two games this year,” she said.
As with any coaching change, establishing team unity will be Woodstock’s first challenge.
“I’ll tell them that things were meant to happen this way,” Hoisington said. “They have what it takes in talent and desire to make it as a team. They have to be aware it’s a new program, with new coaches, and they’re going to have to have open minds, show up and work together to do the best they can.”
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.