“Sports teach us a lot more than a game,” Coach Melissa Wilson said. Her six years of coaching softball at Armijo have helped her realize that.

Coach Wilson is also a physical education (PE) teacher and she maintains a positive and appreciative spirit. She puts an effort in the things she loves and wants to help encourage others who want to coach as well as they strive towards their goals.

Before Coach Wilson joined Armijo’s faculty, she coached at other schools and even managed a Sports Authority store, where she was able to indulge in her interest in shoes with the discounts her employment there earned her.

Her decision to coach was her way of returning gratitude towards the sport that she loved. “I became a coach to give back to a sport that I love and has given me so many opportunities and blessings,” she said.

For all the years she has coached, she has always had good experiences with the teams and has bonded with the players throughout the seasons. However, with the pandemic, things were more challenging, but once some regulations were lifted, softball was finally able to have their awaited season!

The softball team usually ranges around thirty student participants every season, but after the lockdown, they only had seven athletes who returned to play the shortened season. That shortage almost prevented them from having a Junior Varsity (JV) team, but the seven athletes volunteered to play for both JV and Varsity teams. These athletes were in games back to back and averaged four games a week. Instead of seeing this situation negatively, Coach Wilson had seen it as an opportunity for these athletes. “This gave everyone a chance to play,” she said.

Coach Wilson has kept an optimistic attitude despite the challenges of the pandemic and she still enjoys coaching the sport, an attitude that is reflected in her advice to future coaches. “Every coach brings a different perspective to the game and has something to offer,” she said.