For a new coach, coming into a new program, with a new set of values and a whole new team of players is hard work. But Field Hockey Head Coach PJ Johns is not discouraged by the challenge; rather, he embraces it.
But this switch does not come without its speedbumps, as five of his players have never even touched the sport before. This has forced him to change the way he coaches the team.
He said, “It changes my philosophy a little bit, but it’s all about the fundamentals. Can you pass and receive a ball? When you can do that, then we can keep stacking on top of that.”
For Johns, the wins and losses are less important. What’s more important to him is his players learning how to handle adversity, support their team-mates and most importantly follow through with their responsibilities.
At the start of the season, Johns made the team listen to the “Make Your Bed” speech by Admiral William H. McRaven, from when he spoke to the University of Texas on May 17, 2014. That speech laid the foundation for the team.
“All the cadets are on the beach, you’re dressed in your uniform, and you think you’re all perfect and everything, and you’re not,” Johns said. He continued, “your drill sergeant is sending you into the surf, and you come out, and you gotta roll around in sand, and you’re standing there in your uniform, and everybody is a sugar cookie.”
There’s a lesson Johns is trying to teach. He said, “There’s gonna be some little thing, but as sugar cookies, you’re all identifying as one unit, as one team. You’re in it to win it. You’re in it to suffer through it. You’re in it to be there for each other.”
Beatrice “Bea” Hopper ‘27 is a second-year captain for the field hockey team, and has had to adjust just as much as anyone, captaining each of the years with a different coach. While this may present challenges, Hopper was enthusiastic when asked how she felt about the change.
“It was a really comfortable adjustment for me. I think he brings a really great, really positive, competitive, welcoming energy,” Hopper said. She continued, “You can tell, even if you weren’t on the team, that he wants the best for us.”
Johns said he wants what’s best for the team and more, as he has an expectation for the team to declare for postseason by the end of the season. But throughout that process, Johns believes very strongly in his job.
“It’s helping them understand the aspects in the game, putting it all together, and at the end of the season, look back and be like, ‘We learned this and we learned that.’ But that’s not my real job,” Johns said. He continued, “My real job is to teach life lessons, because in the scale of life, your high school career, it’s maybe three centi- meters long, and there’s so much else to learn.”
