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03/18/2015 12:00 AMAllyson Tanner has a vast history in lacrosse at the collegiate level and now she's bringing her expertise to the local turf to try and help the Rams rise to prominence.
The West Haven native went to Ball State University in Indiana, where she helped start the women's lacrosse team before also playing on the men's squad. After coaching men's lacrosse at the University of New Haven, Allyson took a hiatus, but now she's returning to the sidelines as the new head coach for Old Saybrook boys' lacrosse.
"I love coaching, so I talked to the athletic director [Jeff Mauri] multiple times about coaching as an assistant, but when no one else put in for the head job, I was offered it," says Allyson, who also works for the Old Saybrook Police Department. "I had to make arrangements with my job to make sure I was available for road games, etc., but my boss was supportive. It was just too hard to stay away from coaching."
Allyson knows it will be a new challenge for her in taking on the high school ranks, yet she plans on featuring a few basic necessities to build success while taking a systematic approach to the game.
"If you know the game, love the game, and love your players, then you will have a successful program. You also know how to teach them and also how they will adapt to your teaching. There are a million joys from coaching. One of them is when you see the light bulb go off in their heads after they realize something," Allyson says. "I like to coach in pieces. I may draw up a new play for them to learn, but I won't show it to them. Instead, I will build drills around it and help them gradually learn it. It's a pleasure to see them when they finally get it, but also to see them happy after a win."
Mauri says that Allyson not only offers her expertise of lacrosse to Old Saybrook, but that she also emphasizes the importance of both academics and athletics in a student's life.
"Allyson's balance really stood out to me, but her lacrosse experience speaks for itself. When we spoke, I could see that she understands high school athletics and where it fits. She gets the role that athletics plays and the life skills the kids get from it," says Mauri. "She brings passion and is more of a coach that gets her point across in a special way. I think the boys will respond to her well and she will fit in well here. She knows the game, sport, and kids."
Allyson has found a strong welcoming committee thus far among her student-athletes and is ready to begin the preseason process of scouting the Rams' positives, as well as the things that they'll need to improve upon.
"The seniors on the team have been super supportive in trying to bridge the gap between my predecessor and myself, plus the underclassmen have been receptive and excited," says Allyson. "I went to a couple of their games last season and I consider myself a unconventional coach, so it's hard for me to say what their strengths and weaknesses are. Yet once I can do my evaluations of things, I might view things differently."
Looking toward the future, Allyson is aiming to construct a large program that boasts robust numbers. For her first campaign, though, she is solely focused on improving on last year's record and developing a unit that features a sense of solidarity.
"For short-term goals, numbers of kids in the program is huge. I also want to keep them focused in the right direction, have them see the whole field, and communicate with each other. In the long term, I want to build the program toward consistency and going further in states," Allyson says. "This season, I want to get us above .500 while building them as a team and avoid them bickering with each other. I want them to be a team because they want to be one-not because they have to."