If someone told me that I would be the coach of an HBCU dance line that I danced for in grad school I would not have believed them. I remember watching the dance line in 2015 at a basketball game and I was sitting with my best friend and turned to her and said “ that is going to be me next year”. In 2016, I had the opportunity to start my dance career for three amazing seasons at NCCU-eClipse Dance Line. The experience was not only exciting but life changing. The love that grew in my heart for this band has been unmatched.
So to be hired as a coach was a literal dream. I knew I had big shoes to fill, but I had a determination to be as impressionable as my previous coaches. Of course, as a young and new college coach, I knew it was not going to be easy. (Especially during and after the major COVID pandemic.) And naturally, with anything that is different yet elevated and new, you learn as you go by making great decisions and not so great decisions. Furthermore, as a coach, you try to make these great decisions for your team, your co-workers and your program.
So ladies who are reading this, just as with any position of leadership, you won’t always make all the right decisions, but I do hope that I made at least some positive impact that you can take with you as you go. I know I wasn’t perfect and my decisions weren’t always perfect but I always did my best to make them out of the love I have for each of you and for the team and band as a whole. I hope you can forgive me for missing sometimes.
Nonetheless, I wanted to be able to bring in new ideas and new opportunities to the ladies while still holding on to traditions and logistics of previous years past. And I am thankful to have been able to do that. From the photoshoots, video shoots, and continuation of building our social media presences with content (that included my own) was an accomplishment I wanted to give to the program and the girls. Continuing to build the technique of choreography and allowing the girls to exercise their creativity on the field and in the stands just as my predecessors, was an accomplishment I wanted to give as well. Allowing the girls to try to be involved in extracurriculars to bridge the gap between org and school community, was something I had the opportunity to foster. I hope all these new concepts and traditions (some I mentioned and didn’t) can be continued/and or refined after me.
However, with all this, I know that it is my time to step away. These past three seasons coaching have been a forever life changing experience and I will take all of what I have learned with me. Although it is a hard decision to make, it is impossible to continue a path that is no longer accepting your steps. And when that happens, rather than trying to force the path to accept you, you sometimes have to choose a new one.
Ladies please continue to grow not only as dancers but as young women. I am very proud of how you all have bloomed and continue to do so.