NORWICH — In this season of the coronavirus, Sam Pych has exchanged his soccer uniform for a clipboard and whistle.
Pych’s last two autumns involved a green and gold jersey reading Clarkson across his chest. Instead, the collared black shirt he’s now wearing says Hanover Soccer. His college season canceled by the coronavirus pandemic and thoughts of his future in mind, Pych is one of several former Upper Valley high school athletes who are delving into coaching their former programs as a way to stay in touch with their sports.
Longtime Marauder coach Rob Grabill will have Pych and another ex-Hanover regular, striker Charlie Adams, as assistants for a season that officially begins on Tuesday.
“I’m aware of what they did academically; they’re both incredibly hard workers,” Grabill said prior to an informal Tuesday workout at the Dresden Athletic Fields. “They’re great examples. They’re very, very, very good role models.”
The pandemic that wiped out spring high school and collegiate schedules has lingered into September, robbing athletes of more activity. But it has also opened a door for some to view their sports from a different perspective.
Adams not only lost his inaugural men’s soccer season at Brown, he also lost his first term at the Ivy League school, which has told all freshmen to stay home until January. Not wanting to be completely without touches on a ball, Adams contacted Grabill about helping out.
“(COVID-19) had everything to do with it at the beginning,” said Adams, who can easily make Hanover practices once done with an early-morning job at Dan and Whit’s. “I texted Coach Grabill and asked if he’d be interested in having me around. He said yes; he’s got a couple of other alums, too. It’s an awesome group of guys helping out this fall.”
Former two-sport Hartford High athlete Ceci Spaulding knew she’d be taking her five freshman classes at Virginia’s George Mason University remotely this fall — she started two weeks ago — so becoming a coach is both a time-filler and a wallet-filler. She applied for a vacant paid assistant coaching position with the Hartford cross country program and landed it, extending her fondness for the sport by sharing it with others.
“Maybe it just shows that even when you’re young, there’s a lot you can do and a lot you can contribute to someone,” said Spaulding, who is relieving another assistant coach on maternity leave. “You can especially relate to students a lot because you were a student not too long ago. You just bring a lot of positivity.”
For several rookie coaches, sideline time is filling a pandemic-fueled absence.
Like Adams and Pych, Mascoma High grad Tucker Stenger saw his upcoming junior men’s soccer campaign at New England College wiped out by the virus. Even though his team is holding small-group workouts and may schedule a local scrimmage later this fall, the Pilgrim forward has time on his hands.
He’s looking forward to being a regular on two Mascoma soccer sidelines. He’s familiar with Keli Green, the Royals’ third-year boys coach, and he’s anticipating time with Denver Greene’s first-year girls varsity team as well.
“I know for a fact that I love soccer; I can’t live without it,” said Stenger, who is a sport and recreation management major at NEC. “Being around it more makes me want to be more involved, especially this year when we had to get sent home and do remote learning so early. … To find out about the opportunity to be a volunteer, learning under coaches and be involved with the high school teams, it seemed like a great idea and a way to pursue a dream in my life.”
Cross country wasn’t Spaulding’s best sport at Hartford — ice hockey was — but she’s found satisfaction from it and wants to impart that upon the Hurricanes.
“It was one of those sports that helped me grow more as a person for a lot of mental battles,” she said. “I think that with cross country — and I know from a lot of other girls — it’s a sport that you struggle a lot in, and I think I can help others find how to be their best selves.”
Ben Jones wants to do the same for Mascoma’s young harriers.
Jones only took up cross country after entering Colby-Sawyer College, running for four years and graduating with a nursing degree last spring. He’s not filling a pandemic hole by rejoining the Royals, but it’s still something that’s in his thoughts.
“A lot of my friends from college now, they don’t have a season; it must be really tough for them,” said Jones, who will weave his volunteer time with Mascoma XC coach Tom Warner around thrice-a-week 12-hour shifts as a Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center nursing resident. “It’s been really fun to help out people that do have a season, how much it’s changed. It’s been a lot of fun.”
The pandemic has led Pych to make major changes in his life.
Had Clarkson played soccer this season, the big central defender would have returned to his team. Instead, a summer job with West Lebanon medical research firm Novo Nordisk led to another offer this fall. With no campaign waiting with the Golden Knights, Pych decided to give up his varsity soccer career to focus on studies and work.
Starting this week, those chores will include imparting defensive knowledge to young Marauders while Adams and another recently secured Hanover alum, Daniel Hazlett, will tutor the attack. Come the regular season, they’ll bump into a couple of old Lebanon High rivals, Logan Falzarano (Johns Hopkins) and Owen Johnstone (Ithaca), who have returned in similar roles to the Raiders, for similar reasons.
“As a player, I can sort of be like, ‘This is what we’re doing, blah blah blah blah blah,’ ” Pych said. “But as a coach, you sort of have to explain it in a way where they can put it in their own heads without sometimes using a ball or showing a drill. That’s been the hardest thing.”
In this season of the coronavirus, it’s the perfect time to learn.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.