LYONS — When the Lyons softball team begins 2012 practice on Monday, they’ll do so under a new coach.
Sarah Goodfellow will be taking over as head coach for Kyle Schuyler, who took an assistant principal job at the school at the end of June. He was head softball coach at Lyons for the past six years and was head baseball coach for five of the last eight.
A four-year scholarship player at Bethel College in Indiana, Goodfellow was already working in the building as resource teacher when Schuyler took the assistant principal job.
“It’s been such an amazing experience and a dream come true to come into this school district last year and to do what I love most, which is coaching softball,” Goodfellow said. “Being out on that field with those girls, I’m able to instill my passion in them.”
Goodfellow said she is looking forward to the new opportunity to coach the Lions, who went 9-11 last season.
“I just want to help develop each person individually,” the 27-year-old said. “We have all-around really athletic players and if we can develop the little things, we can be competitive. The most important thing is that we have fun and appreciate the game.”
Goodfellow also has been working with the Lyons Township 14-under softball team. When she arrived at Lyons High School a year ago, there were no coaching openings for her.
But when Schuyler took his new position, having Goodfellow already there helped athletic director Kathy Leiding avoid a mad dash to find a coach before the season.
“I guess you just have to cross your fingers and hope that if it would have been posted, you would have had someone apply,” Leiding said. “I knew from the minute Kyle applied for that job that this could have been a possibility.”
The summer has been a busy one for Leiding.
LHS has also recently hired Sandy Mitchell as its new head girls basketball coach. Former boys head coach Jason Maguire will be her assistant. And Ken Rozales, a former assistant of Schuyler’s, will take over as head coach of the baseball team.
For Schuyler, the decision to take over as assistant principal for the senior and middle schools didn’t leave him enough time to coach. Though he won’t be calling the shots in the dugout, he’s happy to still be close by.
“I think it’s a bummer not to be coaching and being part of the program we have out here,” Schuyler said. “But as far as the assistant principal position goes, I can continue to be involved with the teams and the kids. I’m pretty excited about it.”
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