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High School hoops coach gets a different view of the action
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Like most elementary school teachers, Melissa Garcia gets a summer vacation…except that her other job – as the head girl’s basketball coach at Westminster High School in suburban Denver – can keep her mighty busy in the summertime, too.
You would think that those two jobs would be enough of a work load for the former University of Denver basketball star…except that her love for the game and her passion to learn even more about it make a third task – her summer job if you will – something she can’t say no to. When she’s not coaching during the summer, Garcia dons a stripe shirt and works summer games as a referee. Given the nature of the often hostile relationship between coaches and officials, it’s an unusual move to say the least.
It was March of 2002 when Garcia last suited up for the DU Pioneers. As a senior guard, she was the team captain, the only DU player to start every game that season. She led the team in minutes played, while averaging double figures in points, nearly four assists and better than two steals per game – which was good for fourth in the conference. After being honored by the Sun Belt Conference as honorable mention all-conference, the DU media release heaped on the praise.
“Garcia, a fifth-year senior, has helped transform the Pioneers from Division II to Division I nationally competitive program during her career,” the release stated. “She has personified what it means to be a Denver Pioneer and helped establish the program's character and personality.” Garcia finished her DU career in the top ten on the school all-time scoring list, and as a four-year starter, “will end her career having played more games than any other Pioneer in history and the owner of the 3-point field goals made and attempted records. She will also be ranked in the assists, free throw percent and steals categories.”
That resume and her college degree helped Garcia, a graduate of Thornton High School, land not only a teaching job, but also the head coaching reins at Westy, a school with a solid basketball tradition. This past season, her fourth at the school, was the first coaching a team with players from both Westminster and Ranum High Schools (the two merging schools have already combined athletic teams and the upcoming school year will be the final one at Ranum before the full merger is complete). She blended the squads well enough to finish second in the Skyline League and narrowly miss a bid to the state tournament.
But while most head coaches spend the summer focusing solely on team camps and summer leagues, Garcia opts to get a different view of the action. Her two worlds collided recently when she refereed a summer league game that featured three of her Westy players suiting up for the Impact Sports Performance club team. “You’d better not foul out,” she told one of them before tip off.
“It gives me a chance to see the game differently,” Garcia said after the game. “It helps me learn more and become a better coach.” Does wearing the stripes in the summer means she will take it a little easier on the officials when she’s coaching? “Absolutely,” she smiled.
“I love to coach, but if I ever got out of it, I think I’d want to go into officiating full time, so I could stay involved with the game.”
Geoff Golden, the Head Coach of the Impact club team and a former assistant in the NBA Developmental League, didn’t know the true identity of the woman behind the whistle until after the game had ended, acknowledging how unusual it is to have a coach turn into a ref for the summer.
“You’re kidding!” Golden said with a puzzled look on his face. “That’s their head coach?” He paused. “She certainly didn’t give us any breaks.”
All the more impressive.
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