He has been on the same sidelines for more than three decades. A fixture. A friend. A teacher. Simply, a coach.
Jordan Turner is Rockland's all-time winningest field hockey coach with 248 wins as of Oct. 13.
After concluding a 32-year career at Clarkstown North High School last spring, retiring from teaching multiple subjects under the general umbrella of social studies, Turner, has decided this will be his last season as head of what began as the Clarkstown South varsity field hockey team and is now a combination of South and North, called simply Clarkstown.
Turner, whose elder daughter, Jaydn, was a Nyack field hockey goalie and wrestled in college and whose younger daughter, Zoe, is a Nyack eighth-grader, who runs cross-country and plays basketball,
also logged 14 years as a softball coach in the district, including four as Clarkstown North's head coach.
Turner, a Monroe-Woodbury High School and Vassar College graduate, discusses his career, which began with him joining Clarkstown as a teacher for the 1994-95 school year after he spent a few years as a USA club swim coach and pool manager.
Q: What was your sports background growing up?
A: I was a swimmer. I swam in high school and one year of college. My first year (teaching), I coached Clarkstown boys swimming
Q: When did you start teaching and was it at Clarkstown?
A: 1994-95 at Clarkstown North
Q: Were you coaching anything when you became a field hockey coach and how did you get recruited for that?
A: I had friends on the Vassar field hockey team. I got to know the coach. So they had a co-ed club indoor team in the winter. Buddies and I joined it and got to know the coach a little more. Senior year I was (the team's) student manager. My first year teaching, South didn’t have a field hockey coach and nobody wanted it.
Q: So, having played, you took the job?
A: In grad school, I played for a couple of adult clubs. I played a little bit, dabbling here and there. There was a deep learning curve when I started coaching.
Q: So what did it take for you to learn more about field hockey to teach it?
A: I think I’m still learning. Early on, I’d got clinics. They had coaching clinics around. I’d talk to other coaches. I remember my first year coaching, (then-Mahopac coach) Joanie Behrends - she mailed me a photocopy of a booklet of drills. Stuff like that. I met with the Vassar coach, who gave me some stuff. Some coaches like (then-Clarkstown North coach) Janie Schlappich really were just helpful. ... (And I learned from) watching games. Now you can find a lot on the Internet. Drills and drills and more drills are on the Internet.
Q: What was your first fall coaching field hockey for Clarkstown South?
A: 1995
Q: When you first started did you have a timeline in mind for how long you’d stay?
A: I’m glad I stumbled into field hockey. It has been my passion the last 32 years. ... (But) I didn't think about it. Once I realized this was a passion, really something I would come to love, then I figured I’d stay at least as long as I was teaching. Last year, I wanted to see what it would be like (coaching) without teaching. I realized it’s time. I’m really proud of the program we’ve built. The other day about a dozen alums showed up at game, including two families — three sisters and their parents and two sisters and their mom. It’s really been about the kids, about the student athletes. Some have become friends over the years.
Q: Was there any evolution in how you felt about the game?
A: When I first started, I was relatively new to the game but I just enjoyed coaching it. In a few years, it became my passion. I loved history and teaching in classroom, but this became my passion. Two of the last three years we've been to the section finals. ... It has been a great experience to build something.
Q: What are your first happy memories of coaching the sport? And how good were your teams?
A: It took a number of years to get to be good. In any sport, it's not really about winning and losing. It’s about the growth and passion. When I said I was retiring, some people chimed in, (saying) some field hockey was among some of their best memories. And some weren’t on good teams. ... It's the camaraderie I hope I've given the student-athletes who've come through our program. ...I (also) always say the most important thing you learn through sports is to fail. You fail and come back the next day and practice and try again.
Q: How has coaching the sport, as well as just coaching in general, changed since you first started and is this good, bad or both?
A: I don’t know it has changed as much as some people say. It's the proverbial frog in boiling water. I don’t see extreme changes. One of the biggest changes overall is (athletes) not playing three sports as much. ... I know research says you're less likely to get injured if you play multiple sports. ... Obviously, I coached girls in field hockey who were really good athletes. Back when I started, plenty played three sports. I had basically the same expectations for girls as boys. ... Expectations should be the same. ... I don’t know things are as much different as people like to think. Kids are showing up and doing what they did 30 years ago. When (you've coached for) 32 years you have a system in place and people respect that system. But not everyone is going to agree with you or think you're doing it right. I think, if anything, I don’t think coaches stick around as long. (When that happens,) we lose some institutional knowledge. That's probably true in any sport. I don’t think coaches are sticking around 25 to 30 years. I think younger teachers just do other things. I'd say that we just don't have long-term institutional knowledge. ... It's not good for the sport, not good for athletics in general and not good for the kids.
Q: Field hockey seems to have fewer kids. There are more combined teams. Why?
A: I think it’s a combination of factors, One: There are less three-sport athletes. Two: There are more sports for kids to play —for better or worse, Clarkstown has as many or more sports to play (as anyone). Kids who might have gone out for (field) hockey maybe just play basketball or lacrosse. Field hockey has the challenge of not being as widely known sport. ... Part of building our program has been bringing in families — cousins, siblings. It's not less athletes, it's less playing all three seasons.
Q: You had to combine Clarkstown North and South into one team a couple of years ago. But there are now more this season. Do you see this continuing?
A: We’re one of four or five combined teams now. It’s not just field hockey. Wappingers lacrosse. You see it with other sports. You're going to start seeing it with more boys teams, too. It's the same thing — not as many three-sport athletes.
Q: What have been the highlights of your career?
A: I don’ t remember a huge number of specific games. An overtime win over White Plains was a highlight. I remember (a playoff) game we went into Mamaroneck and we were like the eighth seed and they were number one. We got beat 8-0 (by them) at the beginning of the year but they beat us 1-0 in the quarters.
The highlights are not the games, but it’s the kids. I did a couple of days subbing at South and ran into one of my former players teaching at South and we were reminiscing about her playing. ... Some (of my former players are) not kids anymore. One played, (then coached) and now is a successful teacher with five almost grown kids of her own.
I am the winningest (field hockey) coach in the county. That means something, but whatever. Like Ozzie Smith. I'm a compiler. It’s really more the kids. Hearing from former athletes how much field hockey meant to them is really the important thing.
Q: If you hadn’t retired from teaching would you be coaching next year?
A: Probably, but it was time to retire.
Q: When did you decide to make this your last season?
A: Probably a couple of weeks into the season. I was hemming and hawing in my own mind. But I knew I was ready. I haven’t once regretted it. Thirty-two years a lot of years to do one thing. I'll probably miss coaching. I felt the same way about coaching and teaching. I'd rather give up too early than too late. I want to put my best in until then end. I don’t want to mail it in. It's time.
Q: Is there any advice you can give a young coach just starting out?
A: Learn the game. I think not really having played the game was a disadvantage. (Also,) remember, you’re coaching kids. One of best pieces of advice I ever got was from one of my players. (I was upset and said,) "Why can’t you guys just pay attention?" She was a very mature kid. She came over and said, "You have to remember sometimes that we’re 16 year old girls and not always as focused as you’d like." Remember you are coaching 14-,15-, 16- and 17-year-olds. But always hold them to a high standard. Most of the time they meet it. ... You’re a teacher as much as a coach and I do believe coaches are some of the best teachers.
Q: What are your future plans?
A: I'm doing a little subbing, hikng more and getting into reading. Some people suggested I do reffing. We're desperate for refs.
Q: Is there anything else you'd like to bring up?
A: It's been a great run. I loved it. I wouldn't change it. It's a huge part of who I am, so it will be missed but it’s time to go. I'm very lucky. I think we're better this year than our record (shows). We have the toughest schedule of anybody. I told the girls, "Yes, I’m retiring but I want the season to go as long as it can " I think we're more than capable of surprising people in the post-season.
Nancy Haggerty covers sports for The Journal News/lohud.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Clarkstown field hockey coach Jordan Turner reflects before retiring
