On March 21, I was able to interview Sartell Girl’s Varsity Soccer coach, Roy Snyder. During this interview, Snyder talked with me about the ups and downs of coaching as well as some of his experiences.

Roy Snyder has been coaching at Sartell for four years, one year as a JV coach and three years as the varsity coach. He coached for eleven years in Vegas before he and his family moved to Sartell. He has coached a total of fifteen years of soccer.

Snyder says the best part of coaching is being able to work with the players and getting to know the kids, as well as being able to enjoy the sport. “It is rewarding to be able to have that time and connection with people,” Snyder states. The most difficult part of coaching, in Snyder’s opinion, is the organization part of it: “My favorite moments are with the kids not making excel spreadsheets. I am also not a fan of fundraising because I don’t enjoy asking people for money.” Snyder says he would love it if everything was free, and we were able to just show up and play.

Roy Snyder’s favorite memory from coaching was during his time in Vegas, and it is not what you would usually expect as a favorite memory. Snyder explains, “It was my last year coaching in Vegas, and we ended up losing in the state championship in penalty kicks. We had won the two previous games in penalty kicks, but by this time in the season, many of the players are tired from working so hard. I put in a freshman who had hardly played. Within forty-five seconds, she had set up the goal to tie the game.” He continues to explain how the rest of the game played out. A very talented penalty kick shooter missed her shot to win the game. Instead of getting upset with her, her teammates all gave her hugs and there were no tears shed. “They knew what it was about. It isn’t all about winning,” Snyder explains.

When asked what Snyder’s favorite season he’s coached was, he responded by saying that every group is special for different reasons, and he could not choose just one: “I remember different teams for different reasons. I can’t think of a year that I haven’t enjoyed.” If he had to choose, Snyder says he really enjoyed his first year coaching Junior Varsity at Sartell. He had had a lot of experience coaching soccer, and it was not too overwhelming. He enjoyed how laid back coaching junior varsity was compared to varsity as well. Snyder says, “At the beginning of my coaching career, I had to figure out how to be a coach. By this time I had been coaching for about ten years. Coaching JV, there were no expectations about our record, and I did not have to do any of the administrator stuff, and I was able to just show up and coach and my players were able to just show up and play. I had great kids who really wanted to be there.”