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08/16/2018 12:00 AMLauren MacDonald has gained plenty of experience on the soccer field after playing at Old Saybrook High School for four years and then putting in her time as a coach in the area. Lauren has worked as an assistant coach for the Premier travel league team, Soccer Unlimited, in addition to spending the past two seasons as head coach at Old Saybrook Middle School. Now, Lauren will put all of that experience to use as she begins her first season as an assistant coach with the girls’ soccer team at Valley Regional High School.
“I can’t wait to get a fresh start at Valley with these girls that I don’t really know yet. It’s good for me as a coach to step out of my comfort zone, where I don’t know many people,” says Lauren, who still lives in Old Saybrook. “I saw a summer league team, and I met [senior captains Allie Ruel and Lauren Salbinski]. We’ve discussed different formations, and they are what I agree with after hearing about the players that [Head Coach Lloyd Warren] talked about.”
When Lauren patrolled the pitch as a center midfielder, she honed her skills as a strategist on the fly by calling out positions and making sure her teammates were all on the same page. As a result, Lauren was named a captain at Old Saybrook for her senior season, thus beginning her journey in a leadership role.
“I was a playmaker. I like to set people up. I liked to be the leader on the field,” says Lauren, who’s also an assistant coach with the Rams’ softball squad. “You have to be very vocal and communicative to your team. Stepping into a captain role my senior year helped me take a kind of coaching role.”
Lauren helped Old Saybrook make a run to Class S State Tournament semifinals during her junior and senior seasons. Lauren, who graduated in 2012, uses what she learned from that experience to help motivate her squads. She believes that anything can happen on the field when a team jells effectively.
“My junior season, we set the goal to make states, and we had our own saying: O.W.D.—Only We Decide. We went on a Cinderella run and made it to state semis,” Lauren says. “Now as a coach, I want to see girls do that now, and it reminds me of how my team came together.”
After graduating from Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts, Lauren came back to Old Saybrook and began as an assistant coach with Soccer Unlimited, where she met Coach Warren, who is Valley’s head coach. Lauren appreciates everything that she learned from Warren and, because he constantly tries different strategies, she knows that she’s going to continue getting an education in the sport. Lauren says that she can’t wait to get started with the Warriors.
“It will be nice to have a male and female coach and to have the girls bounce ideas off the both of us. The two of us will be a good sounding board for each other,” says Lauren, who is also a manager at Funktion Fitness in Old Saybrook. “I’m there as a player’s coach, but I know a lot about the sport of soccer. I’ll be able to help on the strategy, and I know I’ll learn a ton from Lloyd. He continues to learn, so I can continue to learn with him, too.”
Coach Warren is excited to have Lauren aboard at Valley Regional. He echoes her sentiments about the value having a female voice on the Warriors’ coaching staff.
“I’ve worked with her in the soccer program. I felt it was important for there to be a female presence on the coaching staff. She played and understands what the girls are going through,” Warren says. “She’ll be a valuable member of the team. She’s hungry for the opportunity, and she has a good future in coaching.”
Along with in-game strategy, one of Lauren’s biggest points of emphasis as a coach is for her players to bond with one another and form a cohesive unit. Lauren is a big believer that what happens away from the soccer pitch matters just as much as what takes place at practice and during games. As she begins the next chapter of her coaching career, Lauren is looking to foster a family atmosphere among the Warriors.
“If teammates don’t get along, they’re not going to succeed. You have to have that family feeling. Something as small as just having a pasta party can go a long way,” she says. “Being at a teammate’s house and having fun outside of the sport and school is just so important.”
Lauren says that when the athletes on a team play for one another, they become invested in the club’s results. They get excited for every game, and Lauren feels that type of attitude leads to success on the field.
“I think it’s important for them to get into the game mindset and pump themselves up,” says Lauren. “When I was in high school, we had rituals like cheers and pregame sprints to get into that mindset. It’s important for the girls to pump themselves up on their own and get motivated pregame because they want to. It’s also important for leaders and captains to do that sort of thing, too.”
As Lauren gets ready for her first season at Valley Regional, she expresses great gratitude to all the people who have prepared her to step into this position. Lauren feels especially thankful for the support she’s received from her family and all the coaches that she’s worked with through the years.
“[Old Saybrook softball Head Coach Katelyn Livingston] pulled me into softball, and she got me that experience coaching at a high-school level. Working with her and having the support from my mom and my family has gotten me to where I am as a person,” Lauren says. “Also, I just want to thank Lloyd for bringing me into Valley. I think it will be a really rewarding experience, and I’m excited to get started.”