LEADERSHIP: Amy Warrick helped bring Goshen High School to unprecedented success in 2015
Published 3:30 am Thursday, December 17, 2015
The Goshen Eagles softball and volleyball programs wrapped up the 2015 seasons with unmatched success, and the person at the forefront is head coach Amy Warrick.
Since taking over for late head coach Dee Hughes, Warrick has pushed her teams towards success. Now with her first class in their senior year, she has had time to reflect.
“These girls are the first girls that I really have known since they were ninth-graders,” Warrick said. “The relationships and how these girls really had my back and never really blinked when Coach Hughes got sick have been wonderful. They have given me their 100 percent support.”
In 2015 Warrick led the softball team to the state tournament and took volleyball to the first final four in program history.
“We seemed to peak at the right time,” Warrick said of her softball team. “I was so proud of them during the area tournament. They got beat, but they were able to take it from there.”
The volleyball team relied on five seniors and finished with a 38-12 record, which was a 10-win improvement from 2014.
Being a coach of two sports is a grind that lasts year-round. If asked which one is her favorite she would answer whichever one is in season.
“I couldn’t choose; I don’t know,” Warrick said. “During volleyball season it would be volleyball and during softball season it would be softball.”
The transition between the two sports at times is a challenge for Warrick, a challenge that she fully accepts.
“Right now it’s a hard transition for me,” Warrick said. “When I start the beginning of the season (softball) I am missing volleyball. I looked back and I am thinking what I could have done differently in that tournament. When I am right in the middle of softball season I couldn’t do anything else. They asked me to pick which sport I wanted to coach when I took this job and I told them I really couldn’t tell you.”
One thing that makes the transition a bit smoother is the familiarity that Warrick has with her players. Most of the players on this season’s volleyball team will pick things up in the spring to play softball.
“It’s like that when you’re at a small school,” Warrick said. “I have some of them that play’s basketball and they play all three sports. It’s good because they are like my children but it could be bad because they are worked all the time. I love these girls I know them as much as I know my own children. It has been a lot of fun.”
She also credits the teams’ success to the girls’ hard work.
“I have players that work hard,” Warrick said. “If I had to say one thing about why we were successful it would be because we work. I believe in working in the weight room and I believe in working at practice.”
Warrick also has been able to share the success with her daughter and assistant coach Alli Warrick, a former Goshen pitcher.
“It’s wonderful to be able to share that with Alli,” Warrick said. “She pitched for us and I was able to be her assistant coach. For her to come help me and to take what she learned and transfer that to other kids is wonderful. I think she is going to be a great coach. “
Of course, she also hopes her daughter will coach at Goshen.
“My dream for her is to be Goshen’s next coach,” Warrick said. “I want her to be ready for that job. I want her to be almost saying, ‘hey mom you can retire I got this.”