Head Coach: Terrye Easton

Email: 8BoysBasketball@smanet.org

I was a marginal athlete throughout my middle and early high school years - always part of a team, never the star ... By not being the most gifted athlete, it forced me to learn the subtle nuances of the sports I played (football, basketball, baseball predominately), so as to maximize my involvement. I discovered coaching as an undergrad (back in the mid 1970's) in college - as we could earn education credits for coaching middle school or "C Level" sports teams ... I took the lessons I learned as a player (teamwork, sports IQ, integration of various skill sets, etc.) and integrated them into my coaching efforts ... I coached basketball for 7th, 8th and 9th grade level boys' teams during my last four years of college. Since becoming a teacher (in 1977) I have coached a number of sports teams - some, like basketball, for close to 40 years ... Collectively, I have coached boys' and girls' middle school level soccer; girls' arc and fast pitch middle and high school level softball; boys' and girls' basketball - predominately at the middle school level - but also high school boys; coed golf at the middle school level; girls' field hockey at the middle school level, girls' volleyball at the 8th grade level; and boys' lacrosse at the middle school (and club) level. Along the way, I've had teams that struggled to win a single game, as well as teams that established records for consecutive wins ... The one constant in my coaching philosophy has been that teams of "fists" (players united in a single, positive purpose) tend to be far more successful than teams of "fingers" (players who put their own wants above the needs of the team) ... I believe that coaches need to be patient teachers first, and they need to understand that athletes (much like any other student) develop and mature at different rates. SMA has allowed me the opportunity to coach a number of sports, and it has given me the latitude to develop teams that concentrate on helping young people to develop both as athletes and as young people of character ... I love the collaborative culture that exists here, as well as the fact that high school and middle school coaches can share ideas in an atmosphere of mutual respect. For the past 26 years, SMA has been home, and I am honored to represent the school and its collective constituency.