Campbell University senior Mary McLachlan was recently named Coach of the Year by the Carolina Christian Conference. McLachlan, who serves as coach for Cape Fear Christian Academy’s girls’ varsity volleyball team, credits the team’s 14-4 season to a lot more than just hard work.”There are plenty of coaches who work hard but don’t get recognized because their teams don’t produce,” said McLachlan, who is an education major concentrating in physical education. “The girls on my varsity and junior varsity teams pushed themselves every day to get better. They made me look good! They are an extraordinary group of girls who deserve all the success they have worked for this season.”Volleyball is a team sport that requires the efforts of the whole team, including the coach, to be successful, McLachlan observed. The secret to a coach’s success is building trust.”The relationship you build with the players is vital because if you don’t have a good relationship, they won’t respond. You have to get the girls to trust you and accomplishing that is a huge feat. Being consistent in what you do and in what you ask the team to do is very important,” McLachlan said.The 2006-2007 Season was successful because the team won the pre-season tournament and only lost two conference matches, but it didn’t start out that way.”The team began the year pretty much inexperienced in playing true competitive volleyball,” McLachlan said, “but by the end of the season they were a completely different team.”A native of Spokane, Wash., McLachlan also coached middle school girls’ basketball for Cape Fear Christian Academy and was an outstanding high school athlete, participating in volleyball, basketball and track.”For these girls my past experience of playing volleyball had a lot to do with trusting me to be their coach,” McLachlan said. “They knew that I could get out there and do the same activities I was requiring them to do. It set a different tone.”A third generation athlete, McLachlan’s father Jim coached track at Spokane’s West Valley High School for over 30 years and was recently inducted into Washington state’s Coaches Hall of Fame. Her grandfather Howard Dolphin, 80, still coaches and is also a member of the state’s Hall of Fame.”They helped me learn a lot and gave me big shoes to fill,” McLachlan said. McLaughlin, who will graduate in May, is a member of Lamda Pi Eta National Honor Society. The daughter of Jim and Leslie McLachlan, she has two brothers, Sean and Geoff, and a sister, Brook.Photo Copy: Coach Mary McLachlan and the Cape Fear Christian Academy girls’ volleyball team. Front row, from left, Nadine Brooks, Courtney Williamson, Sarah Tart, Danielle Faircloth, Morgan Campbell and Kaylen Owens. Second row, from left, Brittney Beasley, Erica Johnson, Emily DeVane, Emily Johnson, Olivia Scarborough, Anna Tart and Coach McLachlan.
Coach of the Year says trust is winning secret