An Amazing Role Model

She was about to embark on what would become a successful, meaningful, and impactful 15 years coaching Cub field hockey at Collegiate, and while she wasn’t exactly having reservations about accepting the assignment, there was a shred of doubt in her mind.

 

“I’d never coached before,” she said one morning recently as she reflected upon her time on the Robins Campus fields. “I was a little bit leery about whether I’d be any good at it.”

 

Good at it?  Really? Are you kidding?  Of course, she was good at it — great, actually — as she proved each fall weekday afternoon from 2010 until she retired at the conclusion of the 2024 season.

 

“Siân has the ability to balance teaching the fundamentals of the game, instilling a sense of discipline and accountability, and creating a fun environment for young female athletes,” said Kelsey Smither, Collegiate’s head varsity field hockey coach and program leader. “She’s been an amazing role model for our girls through the years.”

 

A native of Wales, Byron has been an athlete all her life. She played field hockey, netball, and rounders in high school, continued with hockey and netball in college, then narrowed her focus to hockey (as a center midfielder) when she competed in adult leagues.

 

She earned a Ph.D in pharmaceutical science and worked in the pharmaceutical industry for many years, mostly organizing well-subscribed international conferences centered around formulation and devices (such as inhalers for asthma).

 

Her daughter Kate enrolled at Collegiate as a 5th grader and began Cub hockey two years later. Byron pitched in occasionally, but declined the invitation of Karen Doxey, Smithers’s predecessor, to join the program so she and her husband Peter could follow Kate’s athletic endeavors until she graduated in 2010.

 

That’s when her coaching journey began in earnest, and her doubts quickly evaporated.

 

“I loved it,” Byron said. “I absolutely loved it.”

 

Why?

 

“When I started, a number of the girls had never played an organized sport before,” she said. “Certainly, a lot had not played field hockey, so it was an introduction to a team sport in the school, and it was engendering belief in them that they could do a sport.”

 

As is her manner, Byron was always positive with her players, and she always played to their strengths, even as their skills were evolving.

 

“When they tried out, I tried to figure out potentially whether they could play on the right side or the left side, be forwards, mids, or backs,” she said. “When they’re new to the sport, they’re going to improve. You can always say, ‘Remember the time you couldn’t carry the ball on a stick. Now you can carry it 20 yards and pass it to somebody on our team. Look at you now!’ You always point out what they have achieved.

 

“I always say that if I could have a dollar for every time I missed a hit, I would be a multimillionaire. I teach them new techniques and say, ‘Just go try it. If it doesn’t work today, it’ll work tomorrow.’”

 

In addition to encouragement and positivity, often delivered wittily, there were tangible morale-building rewards.

 

After each practice, Byron handed out the rough equivalent of spirit awards. One was a plastic spider named Sprinkles. The other was a stuffed duck dubbed, appropriately enough, Quackers.

 

As her players and coaches huddled after each game, Byron took time to tell each team member at least one thing she did well. Then, she bestowed the highest of awards, a stuffed Welsh dragon.

 

The original was named Dragon Butt. 

 

“It’s for the player who drags butt the least,” Byron said. “The kids think it’s hilarious.”

 

Turns out Dragon Butt was rent asunder by a recipient’s dog. The girls named its identical replacement Cousin Butt. At season’s end, the team MVP earns a coveted stuffed dragon named Mama Butt.

 

“It’s a very prestigious honor to win one,” Byron said. “Even the most sophisticated 14-year-old is incredibly excited to get this.”

 

She often baked goodies for her players. Doing so began early in her career and became a tradition. Brownies were a favorite. Occasionally, she brought in gold bars, Rice Krispy treats, and cupcakes.

 

If you’ve figured out that playing on a Siân Byron-coached hockey team was a constantly moving blend of competitive spirit, skill development, and sheer fun, you’ve figured right.

 

“I enjoyed playing for Coach Byron because she taught us how to be gritty and never give up, but she was also very warm and welcoming,” said Drew Stanley, a 2023 graduate who now plays lacrosse at Christopher Newport University. “She taught us how to be strong young girls on the field and have respect for others and show good sportsmanship. She let us know that we were very capable of doing what we put our minds to. She was lighthearted and very productive at the same time, and she always had a smile on her face.”

 

What kept her coaching so long, especially as she balanced it with her day job, substituting in Collegiate’s Middle School, and teaching aerobics at the Tuckahoe Family YMCA?

 

“The girls keep bringing you back,” she said. “They keep you young.”

 

Then why stop now?

 

“I’d rather retire,” she said, “before I’m asked to retire.”

 

That’s vintage Siân, of course, finding humor amidst the serious business of instructing, motivating, inspiring, and mentoring.

 

“Players who have gone through the Cub field hockey program learn and grow in so many ways,” Smither said. “They leave each season understanding the importance of teamwork and with a love for the game. Siân’s impact reaches far beyond the field and the sport. She’s taught lessons that will last a lifetime.”

~Weldon Bradshaw