By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The “Coaches in the Classroom” feature is a weekly series that spotlights and celebrates coaches throughout Portage County, who spend their days in the classroom and hallways leading today’s student-athletes to be tomorrow’s leaders.

Today’s spotlight is on Rootstown softball head coach Paige Byers, who is in her seventh year teaching in the district and fifth year leading the Rovers’ program.

• How long have you been teaching at Rootstown?: Seven years.
• Classes taught?: Kindergarten.
• What made you want to become an educator?: I have always wanted to be a teacher. I had many wonderful teachers that kept me passionate about learning and wanted to share that with my future students. Working with elementary students became my career goal as I got older and saw that they have a natural love of learning.
• What is your favorite part of your job?: I absolutely love helping my students learn to read. It’s incredibly rewarding to witness their progress when they start to grasp the concept and make reading a natural and automatic process. They become so excited as they gain confidence and can read everything around them.
• What have you learned about being an educator that you didn’t know before you started?: I quickly learned about all the extra work that teachers put in to meet the needs of each student outside of the school day.
• Which teachers influenced you to go into education?: One of my biggest influences was my Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Coffman. She always made learning fun. As I got older, she would let me come into her room during and after school to help with classroom tasks and students.
• How do you apply some of your coaching to the classroom?: On the field, I’m very vocal in expressing my confidence in my players’ abilities. Every player is placed in their role because I firmly believe they can contribute to the team’s success. We discuss their strengths and celebrate their successes as a team. This approach extends to the classroom as well. I build my students’ confidence to encourage them to try challenging new skills. We celebrate each other’s successes to boost their self-esteem and foster continuous growth in the learning environment.
• How do you apply some of your class to your coaching?: I think teaching has helped me learn to break skills down for our players in better ways to help their understanding of movements and knowledge of the game. Fundamentals are a major factor in team success, so understanding the basics is very impactful on the field.
• What is the funniest thing that has ever happened in your classroom?: There are too many to count! Probably when a student thought they could buy a baby sister at The Santa Shop!
• Mentors in your building who have helped you along the way?: I am fortunate to work with many great people. My Kindergarten team has probably had the most influence during my years here.