September 15th-21st is National Coaches Week, celebrating the volunteers who put in time to train and teach people through sports, particularly young people. In Estevan, school sports are starting up their year as their season are soon to start.
Sheena Summers, the athletic director at ECS and a coach for 21 years, talks about some of the prep work that goes into coaching.
"I think it depends, obviously, on the sport. Lots of sports take a lot of time, like football, volleyball, and senior sports. I think everybody who coaches their specific sport takes it pretty seriously."
Summer says the most rewarding part of coaching is building relationships with students, and says they have a lot of impact for those kids.
"I think they're instilling lots of characteristics inside of them, right? Being a team player and hopefully continuing with their sports as recreation, maybe when they're done playing competitively."
ECS is fully supplied for coaches this year, drawing from both its own teachers and community volunteers.
There's plenty that coaches go through to coach their teams, with Summer saying the time committed ia often extensive.
"It's not just something we're forced to do; it's still something we want to do. So it does take a lot of time when you're already done teaching for the day."
Summer says that while coaches aren't praised often, it's important to recognize the effort being put in.
"We talk throughout the season, and we're very grateful that people take it on because there are courses involved and costs out of their own pocket involved. So they're just always very grateful when they step forward and do great things with our school."
Summer says that coaching is a great experience with strong bonds forming for those coaches.