Transcript: Real people, real jobs – Interview with Ryan Walz
Jennifer Hi. This is Jennifer. Welcome to “Real people, real jobs”. Our guest today is Ryan
and he is a high school basketball coach. Hi, Ryan.
Ryan
Hello.
Jennifer So, I was wondering, what does one actually have to do to become a basketball
coach?
Ryan
Well, when I was growing up my father was a high school basketball coach and so
in my family, um, we were centered around basketball as a lifestyle, but my dad
was also a high school teacher. And as I was growing up and watching him do what
he did and wanting to kinda be like my father, I saw that probably the easiest way to
become a basketball coach was to become a teacher. And so I went to Martin Luther
College in New Ulm, Minnesota to become a high school teacher and along with
that then the opportunity hopefully to become a high school basketball coach.
Jennifer So what do you teach?
Ryan
I teach physical education.
Jennifer Okay, good. So, um, how much time do you spend teaching and how much time do
you spend coaching?
Ryan
During a school day I have either five or six 42-minute periods that I teach and then
the rest of my free time is usually spent on basketball, whether it’s watching video
of past games or games that we have coming up to scout our opponents, or practice
planning or evaluations. And so usually I spend probably two to three hours on a
given day at most working on basketball outside of practice and then practice lasts
usually two hours.
Jennifer Every day?
Ryan
That would be the highest end of time on an everyday basis. And then the lowest
end would be an hour of prep time with a two-hour practice.
Jennifer Does the basketball season run the whole school year?
Ryan
Basketball season in Wisconsin starts in mid-November and you run through the
end of February at which time we start a tournament for all the schools in the state
of Wisconsin. And if you keep winning, you keep playing and you could play all the
way up into mid-March.
Jennifer Okay. So what do you do during the off-season when, yeah, you don’t have
basketball games and things?
Ryan
During the off-season the state rules of Wisconsin dictate that basketball coaches
can only have five days of practice in the summer time and we can have no other
basketball contact with our players. However, we can run weight-room workouts
and speed-training workouts and open gyms with our players. And so what we do in
our high school with our basketball program is in the spring, summer and fall, if
they’re not in a different sport, participating, they have to come and work out three
days a week for an hour up to an hour and a half depending on what we’re doing on
that day.
Jennifer So it’s a pretty serious thing.
Ryan
There’s a lot of off-season time that we spend. Um, the players also have to
participate in either club basketball or in the summer time our high school plays in
summer leagues three nights a week.
Jennifer Okay, wow. Um, so sports seem to be pretty important in American high schools.
Do you think too much emphasis is put on sports and not enough on the academics?
Ryan
That’s a good question. Um, I’m probably not the right person to ask that question.
It can get out of balance. Um, in America the sports are…, dictate a lot of what’s
done. And, um, it has many, many positives for young people who get involved and
are able to learn the proper things you need to that are going to help you in life, um,
but often times they’re taken advantage of. And in American culture it’s felt that if
you are good at sports that that is a way for you to be successful in life instead of
through academics and that is a huge mistake that many Americans make.
Jennifer Okay. Um, so the kids who play on your teams, they just choose to come to your
school or do you recruit them to play basketball here?
Ryan
In the state of Wisconsin the rules say that it is illegal for any coach to recruit
athletes to come to their school for athletics. However, our school overall does
recruiting within schools, um, to fill our enrollment and most of the schools in the
area that are private also do the same thing. Whereas the public schools in the state
of Wisconsin will only recruit the kids that are in their school district.
Jennifer Okay. Um, okay, so you said you teach physical education and you’re a basketball
coach. Do you see yourself more as a coach or more as a teacher?
Ryan
It depends on the time of day. I take my phy ed teaching very seriously. It’s what I
went to school for. It’s what I was trained to do so during the hours that I am
teaching phy ed my focus is 100% on helping my students understand fitness and
health and wellness and trying to help them become the healthiest they can be. But
as soon as the class is over my gears immediately shift over into basketball coach
mode and that becomes the most important thing. I spend probably more time in the
off-season working on basketball than I do classroom work. Basketball ends up
taking the majority of my time.
Jennifer Okay, um, how would you describe your relationship to your basketball players?
Ryan
I have a very good relationship with my players. It’s built on respect and honesty. I
can tell that I’m getting older because the way to relate to my players isn’t quite the
same as it used to be. But I think that I have a good balance between discipline and
trying to foster a good communication relationship like anybody would do with a
friend.
Jennifer Okay. Do they call you coach or do they call you Mr. Walz?
Ryan
They call me coach.
Jennifer They call you coach. Could you advance in your career? Say, become a college
basketball coach? Is that a possibility?
Ryan
There are opportunities to do that, to advance into college coaching. Coaching in
American, again, is a very important thing just like the athletics and so it’s very
competitive, especially to get a job at the college level. So a high school coach like
myself would probably either need to start at a very, very low level of assistant and
work his way up or be a good enough coach and make enough contacts where you
can step into a small college and be head coach and then work your way up from
there.
Jennifer What has been your biggest basketball success in your career as a coach?
Ryan
My biggest basketball success was winning the Wisconsin State Championship.
And as I said before, in Wisconsin at the end of the basketball season the entire state
enters into a tournament and then they play out the tournament and whoever is left
in the end is the champion. And we were champions once and last year we were the
state runners-up.
Jennifer Okay. And how is your season going this year?
Ryan
We are currently 19 and 2. And we are ranked very high in our area and we are
looking forward to possibly winning a state championship again.
Jennifer What tools do you need as a coach?
Ryan
There’s a number of tools that you have to have, that are just essential to be a coach
and one is passion for what you do. I think that after you have passion then the other
things, you know, it just depends on your personality and who you are as a person,
that you would bring out, you know, the characteristics of your person to the best
that you have. So communication, if you’re a great communicator then that would
be huge. If you are an organized person then you gotta make sure that, you know,
you use your organizational skills to help you become a better coach. Some people
are very personable in their relationships that they can build with kids, that’s
their…, their skill lies there so that would be another area where a person can really
build as a good coach. And what I’ve seen is that there are so many different ways
to be a good coach that you can’t just put…, um, pinpoint one thing that would
make you a great coach. There are many things that could make you a great coach.
Jennifer Right, okay, good. So who’s more nervous before a big game? You or the players?
Ryan
Since I have been coaching so many years now, I think actually at the game time I
am probably less nervous than the boys are, but before the game and working up to
the game, I am definitely more nervous than the boys are.
Jennifer Do you coach all of the basketball teams here at your high school?
Ryan
We have three levels of boys’ basketball at our high school and I coach the highest
level. We have two levels below that and our levels are based on age groupings and
talent. We also have a girls’ basketball program; I do not coach in the girls’
basketball program.
Jennifer Okay, so you have other coaches on your staff, so to say.
Ryan
Correct. We have currently six basketball coaches at Wisconsin Lutheran High
School for boys.
Jennifer Six coaches for boys. And how many students are at the school?
Ryan
We have approximately 750 right now.
Jennifer Okay, great. Well thank you very much for your time and I wish you best of luck
for your season that you become state champs again.
Ryan
Thank you and thanks for the opportunity to speak.
Jennifer Okay, goodbye Ryan.