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04/27/2020 12:00 AMTim Tredwell is spending his days like many people around the world right now—in quarantine as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Tredwell is head coach of the Hand girls’ basketball team and also a physical education teacher at John Winthrop Middle School in Deep River. While his job at the school has been put on pause, Tredwell’s responsibilities at home have ramped up as he helps take care of his two daughters: Emily, 11, and Paige, 8.
“For me, as a middle school physical education teacher, I’m not doing Zoom meetings with my [students]. So, I’ve been focusing on my kids,” Tredwell said. “My daughter Emily is definitely more like me in the sense that we enjoy laying back, and we’re good with not doing a lot. Paige is much more hands-on and excited to get back to doing things. For me, I’m just trying to meet their needs as best I can.”
When Tredwell isn’t helping out around the house, he’s still watching game film from the recent basketball season, in which the Tigers finished with a record of 20-4, while making states for the seventh year in a row. Hand defeated South Windsor and Wilton in the first two rounds of the Class L bracket and was scheduled to host East Lyme in the quarterfinals, but the rest of the tournament was canceled, as were all the other competitions for the winter season.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time watching basketball,” said Tredwell. “I’ve watched game film a thousand times over. What are our strengths? What are our weaknesses? We set the schedule for next season already, and I’m just looking for ways we can improve as a team. I enjoy being able to analyze film, and this quarantine has certainly given me the time to do that.”
Tredwell also a lot of time to help his daughters while they do their schoolwork. Tredwell said that he’s learning plenty of things himself throughout the process of helping Paige with her math assignments.
“I have to relearn everything. They’re teaching things differently now,” Tredwell joked. “I wasn’t good at math when I was a kid, so I’m learning, too. It’s a good experience for both of us, and I feel like we are all coming closer together as a family.”
While Tredwell is at home with the kids, his wife Kate continues to work as a home care nurse. Kate has been working around the clock, because her position is essential.
“We are thankful to be in a house where everyone is safe, and the fact I’m able to be home, it’s great. I worry about my wife a lot, but we are appreciating everything. We’re fortunate,” Tredwell said. “She’s been going into people’s houses for home care. I’m just happy she’s not in the ICU or ER. Kate has always the person I’ve leaned on in terms of medical situations. She’s so good with the kids.”
Like everyone, Tredwell would love to get out and go places. However, as the pandemic continues, Tredwell is making the most of the time that he gets to spend with his family.
“I find that I’m pretty OK hanging out at the house. You’re essentially on house arrest, but it’s amazing how quickly the day fills up,” he said. “My mom lives down in Hamden. She called me and asked if it was still good for her to go to the gym and we said no. It’s tough to not be able to see her. We’re keeping our distance and hoping this thing all ends soon.”
Tredwell believes that Hand’s student-athletes—and every young person in general—can learn a valuable lesson as result of dealing with this difficult situation.
“The most important lesson a kid could take right now from all of this is—look at who is still working?” said Tredwell. “The people that are sacrificing their health and well-being every single day are the people that deserve the most credit, and I think a lot of kids will admire that and maybe even go into a field like nursing.”