Coach’s Corner is a weekly column where local coaches share practical advice, personal insights, and valuable lessons from the world of youth and high school sports. Whether you’re a coach looking to lead better, a parent supporting from the sidelines, or a player working to grow on and off the field, Coach’s Corner offers guidance, encouragement, and real-world experience to help you navigate the game—and life—with purpose.
Rob Torres – Cross Country Coach at John Carroll
Bio: Started running cross country and track freshman year of high school at Archbishop Curley. Having much individual and team success in high school, went on to run cross country and track at UMBC, again winning Conference championships and breaking team records. Upon graduating college, was assistant coach at Curley for two years before becoming a full-time teacher and coach at Catholic High and winning one conference title in Indoor track. For the last 23 years, I have been a head coach for girls’ cross country and boys and girls coach for indoor and outdoor track and have to guide 20 of those teams to championship titles.
Advice to Other Coaches
Do the best you can with the talent you have. Try to make your sport a great experience for all your kids, not just the stars. Some of those kids who struggle in the beginning may end being your future stars if you teach them well and make it fun for them.
Advice to Parents
Let the coaches coach. I’ve had some really great kids who never achieved all the success they could have because parents tried to give their kids extra coaching and burned out their kids. I’ve also had parents yell at their kids when they had a bad performance. This puts too much unnecessary stress on the athlete and often leads to more failures. Bad days happen. Let the coaches analyze why and help to minimize those bad days.
Advice to Players
If you put the work in and have a great attitude, you will get better at your sport. Don’t bring negative energy to practice. This is toxic and leads to others getting a negative attitude, which is highly detrimental to a good team. Have fun and trust your coach to do what is best to help you succeed.