The coach paces the sidelines of the soccer pitch, calling out instructions to the players, watching the game intently as the Liberty County Panthers boys soccer team races up and down the field. And then, as has happened at nearly every game for the past three years, someone realizes, “Hey, they have a female coach.”
Kristin Hill is one of the few women to ever be head coach of a boys varsity sport in Georgia. She has grown accustomed to the stares and pointed fingers. She is a coach and as such commands the respect her title deserves.
“There are three characteristics I respect in a person, and they are integrity, honesty, and trust,” Hill said. “I try to instill these in my players every day.”
Since 2015 she has successfully headed the Panthers soccer program. She was influenced by her own high school coach who emphasized the importance of physical fitness, in addition to skill, in making a soccer team successful. Today, she follows his example and makes sure her players work as hard on the track as they do on the field.
Originally from the Detroit area, Hill was a soccer player at Western Michigan University. She started coaching girls varsity as a head coach with her first teaching job in Michigan.
“My coaches growing up always told me how I would make a good coach because I can visualize plays well before they happen and I can explain it well to other players,” Hill said. “I’ve always taken this as a compliment and thought that coaching would be in my future.”
She began her coaching career, and before long she was honored as “Coach of the Week” following her team’s big win against their rival for the first time in school history.
She coached for two years in Michigan until her husband was transferred to Fort Stewart in Hinesville and she moved to Southeast Georgia.
“I was saddened to have to give up coaching my girls in Michigan,” Hill said. “My first year at Liberty County High School, there wasn’t a position for coaching available, but I still attended a few games. I couldn’t resist thinking of how I would do some things differently, and once the position opened up, I jumped on it.”
For the school’s administration, male or female, she was a perfect fit for the job. She brought a detailed knowledge of the game from the perspective of both a player and a coach. And best of all, she builds positive relationships with students on the field and in the classroom, where she teaches science.
“Coach Hill has taken our boys soccer program to another level,” said Dr. Warnella Wilder, the athletic director for Liberty County High School who hired Hill. “Our boys were competitive in every game and left it all on the field for her.”
At first, no one knew how the young men would react to having a female coach, but Hill commanded respect from day one. She did notice a few differences between coaching the male and female players.
“Things that have worked in my favor would be the thick skin of the men,” Hill said. “I’m able to give criticism that they can absorb and not hurt any feelings.”
Hill sees coaching as a way to provide a positive and constructive space for players, children, and students to release any and all of their frustrations and energy. Sports, she said, are important in helping young people learn to work with others for a common goal and develop a unique skill along the way.
Out of her three seasons as a coach at Liberty, this past season may have been her best so far. She took over a divided team that was playing as individuals rather than working as a team.
“Every year we’ve improved a little more and a little more, but this season things finally came together, and my team played the best I could’ve hoped for,” Hill said.
The Panthers came out to play this year with attitudes set toward working and winning. They eventually made the state playoffs as the fourth seed from Region 2-AAA before falling to Pike County High School. One of the team captains this year was Cleveland Dargan, whom Hill calls one of the best players she has ever coached due to his work ethic and determination.
According to Dargan, the only concern about having a female coach was how to get team members serious about playing.
“It can be a little awkward having her as a coach with a group of guys that like to act immature from time to time,” Dargan said. “I can also say without a doubt that she is one heck of a coach at the end of the day.”
In her time away from school, Hill is creative and enjoys doing crafts. She has a shop on the internet site Etsy where she sells things she creates. Unfortunately, Hill’s tenure at Liberty County has now come to an end. She and her husband are returning to Michigan, where she plans to soon take on the even bigger responsibilities of motherhood. Although they wish her well, her team will miss her.
“I’m upset that this year will be her last at Liberty County High School,” Dargan said. “She will be missed, without a doubt.”
SE-CC-0617-Hill
Liberty County Boys Soccer Coach Kristin Hill
By Rob Asbell
Photography by Charles Mills
The Lady is a Coach
