FREMONT – There is more to building a team than instruction and wins and losses.
Megan Turner believes before the Lady Giant softball team can become a winning program, it has to become a more unified squad.
Megan Turner
That’s exactly what Turner, the new head coach of the Fremont Ross softball program, plans to do to put her stamp on the Lady Giants.
“I want to do a lot of team-bonding with the girls, a lot of collaboration,” Turner said. “You can only drill so much softball, you also have to have team collaboration outside of it. Going to a park and playing whiffle ball or doing kickball, knowing you can have fun and be friends with girls outside of the field.”
Turner was an assistant coach last spring under coach Tony Hill. The Lady Giants compiled a 10-16 overall record, its best mark in five seasons. Turner, however, sees a great opportunity for more which is what made her want to job.
“I saw how much potential the girls had and how much respect I was able to get back from the girls,” she said. “The program has so much potential to keep moving forward and keep improving. I love coaching and the sport of softball and the girls and I think I have a lot of knowledge I can share with the kids.”
Turner is a 2011 graduate of Defiance High School and she went on to continue her career collegiately at the University of Findlay where she remained as a graduate assistant coach before joining the Lady Giant program last year.
Turner believes in making the routine plays will lead to succeeding more frequently in the harder situations.
“I really want to push the fundamentals with the kids and my big philosophy is if you do the small things right, then the big picture will come. If you keep working on the little things every day, the basic fundamentals, the big success will eventually come.
“And I really want to push confidence with the kids,” she added. “They have so much talent. I believe in the girls and, if they believe in themselves, they’ll be successful together.”
Fremont Ross athletic director Chad Berndt said Turner’s experience with the program made her the right choice to take over the team.
“As a varsity assistant coach last season for the Little Giants, coach Turner brought a heightened level of excitement and passion to the program,” Berndt said. “In addition, her familiarity with the program coupled with her ability to develop meaningful relationships with both players and parents, made her an ideal candidate for this position. We are truly excited to have coach Turner’s youth and energy leading our Lady Giants softball program into the future.”