2013 Coach of the Year

The 2013 RUGBYmag Women's Coach of the Year was announced yesterday.  John Klein, the DSHA head coach since the Fall of 2000, was awarded with his second national coach of the year award.  The first being the USA Rugby Coach of the Year Award in 2008.

What struck our offices as memorable is that this award is for "women's coach of the year" not "high school coach of the year" or some other designation.  When early word of the award leaked out to WGR we knew we had to quick pay a short visit to "the office" and put up a sincere congratulations!  When we contacted Coach Klein for a comment, he was completely surprised.  He didn't yet know he was receiving the award.

It was quite a year for Coach Chin and the Dashers.  But it was clear the award was for more than their incredible on the field success.  While the Dasher's only loss in all of 2013 was a 22-20 National Semifinal nailbiter, the award was also for Klein's contributions to growing the girls game at the grassroots level beyond his own players.  His countless hours spent working to grow the National Tournament into an opportunity for girls teams anywhere to compete for a national title, in several different divisions, helped give more teams and young adults the opportunity to experience greater competition in a true team setting.   Klein chaired the NGCC, the National Girls Coaches Committee, and pulled together highly respected coaches from programs around the country.  With them, they worked together to grow the National Tournament into a 20-team magnum opus of girls rugby. 

One of many standout quotes from the Rugby Mag article:
"It was as professional as an event outside of a stadium can get, and important to the development of girls high school rugby as a whole. And it was all thanks to the efforts of the NGCC and the support they garnered."

The actual hosting of the event was also thanks to the effort of a tremendous group of committed parents from both Catholic Memorial High School and Divine Savior Holy Angels High School. Together they brought in volunteers from the Wisconsin Rugby Union, the RASA Racine Area-Soccer Association, and local women's teams as well.  It was a true team effort.  And Klein helped bring them together.
Of course, the culmination of 2013 for the Dashers was their convincing victory over Fallbrook at the USA Sevens High School Challenge. Dubbed an unoffiical national 7's championship, the field of east coast teams plus Fallbrook and Catholic Memorial was challenging.  And the Dashers squared off against Fallbrook in the PPL Park final, coming away with a 41-0 victory and the championship they'd been questing for

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