Editorial: NSA's Best Hire

NSA’s Best Hire:

Why Beatty Schlueter is a Great Asset

By Kathryn Dawson

 

          

 

National Sports Academy has made numerous recent improvements, but the most valuable has been the addition of Beatty Schlueter as the alpine women’s head coach. While NSA’s women’s JI-II alpine team is small - just seven skiers, only four that board in school - the new position will be profitable because it will attract new recruits. Schlueter is more than just an asset to NSA’s profile; she is strengthening the women’s program so the athletes and their results will speak for the school.

 

Beatty Schlueter (right) with athletes (left to right) Veronica Gaspar, Aylin Woodward, Kathryn Dawson and Annie King at a training camp in Saas Fee, Switzerland.

             

            Some students may object to NSA hiring another alpine coach, since there are currently six alpine coaches for 28 athletes and five hockey coaches for 54 athletes. Their objection indicates that NSA must rethink the dispersal of their coaches, both between and within sports.   Nonetheless, creating Schlueter’s position was a necessity because despite two coaches for five JIII athletes, the women’s alpine team lacked a coach before this year.

 

 Schlueter teaching an art class on the color wheel 

(making Christmas cookies)

NSA has traditionally countered the growing expense of coaches and faculty members by asking employees to perform multiple jobs. Schlueter doubles as an art teacher, a class which didn’t exist before; Denja Rand facilitates the “winter-term” program that attracts new athletes; and Dave Wenn acts as Head of School. The cost of hiring a disproportionately large alpine staff is offset by the other contributions that they make.

Due to its disorganized women’s program and apathetic recruiting, NSA hasn’t attracted many female racers; only one new woman, Catherine Wilcock, joined the JI-II team this year. Furthermore, two racers, Catherine Masson and Amee Pierson, left the team when they graduated last year and two more, Aylin Woodward and Giorgia Nagle, graduated but remain affiliated with the school because of the coaching that is now available to them. Even including Woodward and Nagle, who don’t live or study at NSA, the women’s team has barely been able to maintain its numbers.

Having Schlueter will appeal to potential students, not only because she exists but also because she excels at organization, communication and inspiration. Unlike previous years, the women have access to their coach throughout the day, since Schlueter has an office at NSA. Within her first week of school, Schlueter had made a distinct women’s agenda and contacted the entire team via text with schedule updates. Women were no longer left wondering where exactly their program fit in with the men’s program.

By taking care of the details and fostering communication, Schlueter is in tune with the team’s needs and she improves their ability to focus by assuming responsibility for the minutiae of planning. Hopefully Schlueter’s expertise, with the women’s hard work, will produce strong results this year and create an impressive reputation for NSA’s women’s alpine team.