Coaches Spotlight- Tim Hamling
2014 Girls AAA Track State Champions
2 Boys State Runner-Up XC finishes
4 Boys Region XC Championships
6 Boys Region Track Championships
3 Girls Region Track Championships
5 different individual State Champions in Boys/Girls Track
1 individual State Champion in Boys Cross Country
Milesplit Interview with Tim Hamling
How did you get involved with running/coaching?
· I started coaching while attending college at Washington & Lee University. Several friends and I coached youth football and basketball teams while there, and I always enjoyed it. Coaching, as much as anything, probably led me into teaching. I also started getting into running in college because I wasn’t formally participating in the sports I once did in high school and I needed something to stay active.
How did you end up at Woodward Academy?
· I was finishing my M.A. coursework at the University of Alabama and simply wrote letters and sent resumes to several schools in the Nashville, Birmingham, and Atlanta areas. It really was a product of fortunate timing—my letter and resume crossed Woodward’s desk at the time they needed an English teacher in their high school.
Do you have a mentor that has had a big influence on your coaching?
· I am very fortunate to have inherited programs that were left in very good shape by the coaches who preceded me (Chris Freer in Track and Field in 2001, Tommy Ehrensperger in Boys Cross Country in 2001, and Scott Freed in Girls Cross Country in 2011). The work they had invested into their programs certainly meant that the path paved for me was so much easier than it might be for other coaches who have to start from scratch. I also coached basketball under Coach Jim Waller during my first 6 years at Woodward; to my knowledge no one ever out-prepared him. Although the sports are different, the lessons in how to prepare thoroughly carry over.
What have been some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in the program from when you arrived at Woodward to now?
· The biggest change in the last 10 years at Woodward has been the size of our MS and HS teams. We tend to have about 230-250 total athletes (combined MS and HS) participating in Track and Field in the spring, so managing track space and coordinating schedules has been a challenge because of that. There is definitely more upside than downside to this—a lot of students who maybe never thought of themselves as track and field athletes learn that there is an event where they can excel.
How has XC and track changed in Georgia since you’ve been coaching?
· It certainly feels more competitive now than it did 15 years ago. We have been in regions with teams from almost all of the counties in the Metro Atlanta area during this time, and we have always seen individual competitors and teams who are among the best, if not the best, in the state in both sports for both genders. Our programs have improved out of necessity because of that competition. Sometimes it is frustrating to be realigned every two years by the GHSA, but the upside is the scope of athletes and coaches we have competed against in that time. It’s amazing what you can learn just by watching and competing against these great teams and coaches. I appreciate that our competition against these schools has made our programs better.
Your girls just won the AAA State Girls Track Championship in a nail biter over St. Pius. Can you explain the range of emotions you probably felt during the meet?
· I couldn’t be prouder of how the girls competing embraced the opportunity they had. We had the Friday off-day, and it was great to overhear them discussing at lunch that day what they knew was possible. Instead of being worried / intimidated, they were doing projected team scores based on the seed times for Saturday’s finals. And then on Saturday, in all of our events, we either equaled or exceeded our seeding in the race. We led by one point to start the day, lost the lead to St. Pius after the 400, who then lost it to Maynard Jackson after the 100 Hurdles, and throughout all of these events Blessed Trinity was climbing in the standings. It was great to regain the team lead after Erica Evans’ win in the 300 Hurdles. Having the team title decided in the 1600M Relay makes for great drama in a track and field meet. Meagan, Hanna, Micaiah, and Erica did their one job of getting the baton around the track cleanly to give us a 4th place in the race. Certainly the highlight of the day was seeing the girls celebrate their win with the trophy.
Your boys have consistently been a contender in XC the last few years, so it must have been very rewarding to have the girls win the State Track title. Can you explain what that means for your program (and for you personally to win your first State title, after coaching for many years)?
· To coach a team to a state championship for Woodward is something that I am glad I could do. I think it reflects first and foremost the work and the talent of the athletes. It certainly also reflects the talent of the assistant coaches I am so fortunate to have on the track and field staff. We qualified athletes for the state meet in 12 of the 16 events and scored in 11 of the 12, scoring 30 points in the field and 31 on the track. That balanced contribution from so many athletes confirms what I think any head track and field coach will tell you—any accolades that come our way really need to be divided up and split equally with all of the assistants. I am deeply indebted to all of the assistants in both Track and Field and Cross Country. I continue to coach from year to year because of how hard they work just as much as I do because of the athletes’ willingness to work.
Moving forward, how do the XC/Track teams look for next year?
· We move up to AAAA with many other excellent teams who competed in AAA this past season. I certainly know there are already many excellent programs at the AAAA level. I certainly hope we will still be competitive on both the boys and girls sides in both sports, but I can tell you we must be better next year than we were this year in order to do so. That will be the challenge for us coaches to convey to the athletes, but it is one all coaches face—to encourage, challenge, and coach athletes to be better next year than this year.