Each week through August, the Valley News will profile a local high school coach. It’s a chance to better know some of the people guiding the area’s student-athletes. Today, we meet eighth-year Woodsville girls soccer coach Ann Loud, whose teams have advanced to at least the NHIAA Division IV semifinals four of the past five seasons.
Family: Loud is married to Steven, who owns and operates Timberwolf Rubbish Removal with their 41-year old son, Steven Jr. Their 43-year old daughter, Jennifer, works at Littleton Hospital, and Ann dotes on her three grandchildren, ages 2, 5 and 14.
Fashion Disaster: “When I was in elementary school, they were still letting girls only play half-court basketball in high school. By the time I got there, it was full-court, but we had to wear bloomers with a jumpsuit over them. I was the ultimate tomboy, so putting up with that kind of get-up did not make me happy. We also only had six kids on our team, so we took our lumps.”
Young Love: Ann, an Avon, Mass., native, and Steven met in third grade but didn’t date until they were teenagers, marrying not long after Ann’s 1970 high school graduation. Steven spent four years in the Navy as a submariner based out of South Carolina but was home with Ann only six months of that time. Upon his leaving the military, they returned to Massachusetts, where he joined the U.S. Postal Service and she worked at her parents’ convenience store.
Lifestyle Adjustment: “In 1983, we came to visit my brother, who owned a little motel in Wells River. We didn’t have any intention of leaving Massachusetts, but he said it would be fun to look at houses for sale and we went along. By the next May, we had moved up here, and it was a culture shock, I’ll tell you. Back there, we were within 20 minutes from five different malls.”
Soccer Start: “I helped coach my kids in third and fourth grade, and in my 30s I played with a women’s soccer group. When we moved to New Hampshire, my daughter was in sixth grade and there wasn’t a junior high girls team, so she played with the boys. Then there was no girls team at the high school, and we got one started in 1987. They did away with field hockey at the same time, which made a lot of people angry.”
Stepping Up: “In 1988, they needed a JV girls soccer coach, and that’s how I started at (Woodsville High). We had a down period where we didn’t have a JV team, and they kept me on as an assistant varsity coach. I was going to get done when (previous coach) Frank Leafe got done, but they were floundering finding someone else, and my husband said I should do it.”
Sharing Credit: “I’m not the best coach there ever was, and whatever success we’ve had I give the credit to the girls. I’m also very fortunate to have (assistant coach) Jay Waterhouse. I tend to be soft on the kids and keep it all in and let it out at home, but he tells me that it’s all right sometimes to let them know how you feel.”
No Excuses: “It takes a lot to push me over the edge, but I get really frustrated when kids have 900 reasons why they can’t be at practice. I can handle losing if we’re working hard, but when they find better things to do, they’re letting themselves and the team down. We’ve also had kids whose parents didn’t step up and they couldn’t keep playing because they didn’t have transportation to and from practices and games.”
Achy-Breaky Joints: “I’m not getting any younger, and I am getting real creaky. I used to be able to jump in and play and demonstrate, but my knees won’t let me do that anymore. The kids will shout, ‘Mrs. Loud, don’t fall down!’ I don’t want to give up coaching, but they may need somebody younger.”
Daily Routine: “I am home. I work in the garden and plan what I’m going to do for soccer practice and help my husband down at the office and probably make way too many cakes and cookies.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.