This email comes to you as my thoughts.. not as a coach, mainly for
vets, but rookies feel free to read..

These past two season have been rough for me. I've made some terrible
decisions, and lived with the consequences. Learned from some, and
continued to make others with the thought that i'd learned from my
mistakes. When I was on the field as a player it was easy for me to
take a leadership role, deal with team issues and still maintain a
friendship with all active members and coaches. Now simply the change
in title seems to have created a transition that changes my status of
how I stand with all players involved. With the title of "assistant
coach" I was still hoping to continue in the same leadership I did as
a player, but simply be able to input more. Before I didn't want to
act too much like a "coach" because it wasn't my place. I still ran
drills, helped rookies learn information, gave input on player's
positions, and was able to talk to the coaches about any problems. I
didn't think it was going to be this hard. It seems in the process of
this transition I managed to aggravate a few, make others feel
awkward, and possibly lost a few friends. This only created more
unnecessary tension on the team. I never give up on anything so after
each new strenuous test of whether or not I could make the transition
I continued to think that it would be possible for me to make a
difference and help develop this team.

For those of you who watched the scrimmage on saturday, I hope you
could see how much I just loved being out there. I truly am dedicated
to the sport of rugby and just want to play and share it with others.
I'm addicted and I just hoped to make it that everyone else would feel
the same. For some of you, I think the bug has bitten you,
particularly a few of the rookies. It's an amazing sport and culture,
as I've said in the past, when you learn the songs and realize you can
show up to a tournament knowing many of the other teams there, its an
awesome feeling. When I was asked to come on as an assistant coach, I
thought it would be a great opportunity and loved the idea of being
able to develop others within the sport and myself at the same time.
I definetely don't know everything. I've been playing for 5 years and
know how to be a team leader but not a coach. I can help break ideas
down for rookies but ideas more complex, I may know the answer to but
am not quite sure how to explain it.

So i've decided to step down as an assistant coach. I don't feel I am
properly qualified at the moment to coach you, and will probably take
a coaching course or two before I attempt to coach again. I think
personal issues with the transition are actually hurting the team more
than helping, and I don't think that's fair either. So for the
benefit of TUWRFC as a whole, I think its best if I just step down.
If for any reason I am needed to help coach I will be more than happy
to attend. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. If
you simply need a friend feel free to call. And if you're a rookie
who's simply intimidated, don't worry, I can still help you out. I
wish you all the best of luck in the season, play without fear, and
hesitation and i'm sure you'll be fantastic.

Sincerely,

Audrey Dineiro
aka Halftime Orange