Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont internship, for the Journal Opinion
WELLS RIVER — Scott Blood was the high school boys’ varsity baseball coach at Blue Mountain Union School for more than 20 years. In that time, he led the team to multiple victories, including three straight state championships. Blood started coaching after his own career as a pitcher at the University of Vermont.
Last fall, Blood announced he would step down as head coach to focus on his family and his day job as co-principal of Blue Mountain Union School. He reflected on his coaching career in a recent interview with the Journal Opinion.
Q. You achieved a lot in your career as a coach. What did it take?
A. When I started teaching here at Blue Mountain, I started coaching immediately. There’s something special about being with a group of kids for a season where you become a connected family and team. Building positive relationships that benefit you on the field is what makes a big difference. I’ve always been blessed with having great coaches around me and lots of help from day one. What you can do with multiple coaches is so far beyond what one can accomplish by themselves.
Another vital aspect is your direct family being supportive. I’m lucky to have a wife and two kids that supported me and gave me the capacity to thoroughly wrap my head around each season. I’m so thankful for that and am not sure that I could have had this experience without them.
Q. What makes a good coach or person? What are the virtues and standards they hold?
A. I always tried to have captains and assistant coaches who could connect with different players in different ways as mentors. My fellow coaches and I held the value that the most important thing was that we taught kids life skills and how to be a better person. When their baseball career at Blue Mountain ended, I wanted them to think back on their experience and know that it made them a better human.
Q. What are some of those life lessons that you teach students through sports?
A. That effort matters, and the importance of showing up and being on time because they directly apply to their journey in life. I want them to know that things can get hard in life, but there’s always a way to work through it. I can think of so many situations where players persevered and used a level of grit that got them through a tough situation.
If we can turn a double play with bases loaded and one out, then someday in their job or career, when a tough situation comes up, they can have that confidence to get through it. Team sports teach you how to build synergy and utilize the strengths of those around you to be a successful group – skills that almost every career requires.
Q. As a coach, what was your definition of success?
A. Success wasn’t necessarily measured by season record, but by if we were accomplishing our own goals that we set on a daily basis.
Of all the teams I coached, the most talented ones didn’t always win. It was the teams that had as much fun off the field as they did on the field, and who understood and supported each other regardless of the situation. You have to build those opportunities as a coach for your players to have fun and connect together on and off the field. I always loved team events off the field because everybody participated, had fun, and was an equal.
Q. What did you learn from your players that helped inform your coaching?
A. One thing that my players taught me more than anything is that sports are supposed to be fun. They helped me remember that we’re all human and we make mistakes. That, and making sure that you as the coach are having fun, too, is what I would share with any coach. If you forget that high school sports are supposed to be fun, it starts to become something different than what sports are supposed to be about.
Q. How did you decide on stepping down from baseball? How has it felt?
A. My son is playing college baseball and my daughter is in college pursuing a music career. I don’t have any regrets whatsoever coaching for the last 21 years, but I recognize that I missed out on a lot of their activities and experiences they participated in.
I don’t want to look back and regret not being there for my kids so I had to make the decision to step down. I love getting to work with kids and coaching, and it’s going to be really hard to go without coaching right now in my life. It was a tough decision, but I believe wholeheartedly it’s the right decision.
Q. What do you want your players, kids and family to take away from you as a role model?
A. I want any of the kids in this community, and my family, to know that I’m always here for them in any capacity, even beyond their high school experience. I have so much appreciation for what I put all my players through in terms of the rigor and expectation each season. There has to be a payback, and that payback is that they’ve earned both a friend and my attention if they ever need it. I hope my players can use something they’ve learned in our baseball program in life to help them.