Laura Beeman, the head coach of women’s basketball at University of Hawaii, sits down with us in this episode of the 35,000 feet podcast explaining her start as a coach, the past season for her team, some memorable travel experiences, and where she is off to next.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How this past season went for University of Hawaii Women’s Basketball team (0:18)

• How Coach Beeman got into coaching (2:52)

• Laura’s favorite travel experience (5:57)

• One thing that no one knows about Laura (9:17)

• Laura’s advice to athletes wanting to play in college (10:34)

• Laura’s next adventure (11:36)

The Past Season for University of Hawaii Women’s Basketball Team

Morgan: Hi guys. Welcome back. It's Morgan. Today, I'm sitting down with coach Laura. Thanks so much for joining us.

Laura: Thank you very much for having me on today.

Morgan: Yes, we're so excited to just hear from you and hear about your team and the recent successes you've had. One of the first questions I wanted to ask you was, if you could tell us about the highs and lows of your season.

Laura: Oh gosh. I mean, the highs are always getting to know a group of amazing young ladies. Our season started out a little bit rough. We always play some very high caliber teams. And so we know that our win loss record isn't going to be great in the pre-season, but as we worked through the pre-season, we grew as a group. We had a period of games in our conference where I believe we went on a six game win streak and that was really fun for the girls, just to see them celebrate each other, celebrate the success, watch the offense and defense row, and really give the girls an idea of just how special they could be this year.

And that leads up to the low obviously, which is we were in the quarter finals of our big West Conference tournament. Had won that game, we were advancing to the semi-finals to play Santa Barbara and our tournament was cut short because of this pandemic that the entire world is going through. So unfortunately, our season was cut short and I don't think what most people realize is in sports, you get closure with either a win or a loss. And so these young ladies unfortunately, did not get that closure. We were just kind of left hanging. So that was definitely the low, one of the most difficult locker rooms I've been in in my career.

Morgan: And that's hard too because you worked so hard for all season for those things and then it just got cut. I mean, I'm sure it'll make teams appreciate, like when they can play again.

Laura: I think for all athletes, regardless of what sport, this COVID-19 has just really crossed all boundaries. And I believe all athletes as well as all people quite honestly understand now that life is very precious and can be taken away very quickly. And so I know from my players, I don't know if it's completely sunk in yet, just kind of the magnitude of what we're going through. I do believe though, they're looking back and at least celebrating each other, celebrating the opportunity and the time they had with one another, and the young ladies that I'm very fortunate that will be coming back next year, I think they're looking forward to getting on the court and not taking for granted something that can be taken away so easily.

Morgan: Oh, no. It's so true. I think it makes you appreciate the times you have and the things that we're able to do before all of this happened. So yeah. It's true. Thank you for telling us about the highs and the lows of your season.

Laura: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Laura Beeman’s Start As A Coach

Morgan: Yeah. Thank you. And the next question that I have for you is like how you got to be a coach, how did you get where you're at today?

Laura: Well, growing up I was very fortunate that I had an older brother. I also have two older sisters, but I was very close with my older brother and my dad really didn't want to get into coaching, but my brother and I were so active and we were playing every sport under the sun, if you will. And just so from a very, very young age, sports really started to define who I was going to be as a person and how immeshed they were going to be in my life. I played sports throughout high school and college, and one day received a phone call that just really changed my life and kind of charted my path if you will.

I remember Melanie Horn, she was an assistant coach at the University of Redlands for the women's basketball team called me and said they had an undergraduate coaching/manager position open, and if I would be interested in continuing my education at the University of Redlands to get my master's degree and help them coach. And I said, "Sure, why not?" I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I did not know I wanted to be a coach at that point in that time. And so I just jumped in with both feet and went to school to get my master's in educational counseling and at that point in time, the coaching bug just really bit me and really from there, I never looked back and have had really just an amazing career at many different levels, but that phone call definitely changed my life.

Morgan: Wow. Oh, that's amazing. It's crazy how one thing can happen, it can change your whole life. I think that it's awesome that you've ended up where you're at and doing something that you love.

Laura: I am. I'm very fortunate and I'm glad I took the call. I wasn't a young woman at that time in my life that really appreciated education, nor did I care for it, so I'm actually shocked that I didn't say, "Heck no. I don't want to go back to school." Thank goodness I didn't because like I said, that really put me on my career path.

Morgan: Oh no, I think that's awesome. And what's one of the biggest lessons you've learned since being a coach would you say?

Laura: I think that within coaching you have the opportunity every day to make an impact and you can either make a positive impact or a negative impact. And I didn't have that understanding of coaching when I first started. It was just about the wins and the losses. And today as I've kind of worked my way through the different levels and seeing so many different young women that have been challenged and have learned and grown because of my interactions with them, I believe that it's really your duty as a coach to figure out what kind of impact do you want to leave on these kids' lives. And I hope for the most part, coaches want to be a positive influence and be remembered for how much they care about their athletes, not just about the wins and the losses.

Coach Laura Beeman’s Travel Experiences

Morgan: Oh yeah. It's so true. And I think that's what takes coaches far and teams is when they care about that process of growing as a team, becoming and learning rather than only looking at wins or losses because there's so much more behind it. So what's one of your most memorable travel experiences?

Laura: Oh gosh. I've had just again, a very amazing, and I'm very fortunate with my career. I've had some fun travel experiences when I was with the Los Angeles Sparks and traveling across the country. Most of it's a blur. One of the most memorable times when I was coaching with the Sparks was when we were in the playoffs and we were actually in Chicago playing against The Shock and it's not a very positive memory, but we had a player brawl on the court and actually cleared out the stands and it was one of those moments in your career where you recognize you're very small amongst a lot of very large, very athletic, very strong women. And I figured out my role very quickly was just to keep our players on the bench, but I was not about to go on the court.

And remember waking up the next morning and that incident was trending on Twitter. And as we walked through the airport, people were coming up saying, "Oh my gosh, we watched the game. You guys were on ESPN." That was one of the most memorable just because of how crazy the situation was and how quickly the fight curved. And so that's one of the ones that stands out as far as traveling because I was in Chicago and the other one would have to be when we went on our international trip a couple of years ago, while I was at the University of Hawaii, the ability to take our team to New Zealand and Australia and all the memories that we were able to share and experience together. That is absolutely one of my, I'll say my more positive memories of coaching and travel.

Morgan: Oh no, it's true. And that spread rapidly to be able to be on ESPN and things like that.

Laura: Yeah. The game was televised live. And so it just broke up overtime. And so, we were in the middle of the playoffs and it was just an incredible situation of something that had been so good, so bad so quickly. But looking back on it now, I'm glad I had the foresight to stay my behind on the bench and not step on the court. That's for sure.

Morgan: Yeah. No, it's true. It's true. That's awesome. And that's awesome that you guys weren't able to go on that foreign tour because I think I've noticed my teams get closer when we travel together. Have you noticed that with that team?

Laura: Oh, absolutely. This team has always traveled well. We travel so much because all of our games are on the mainland. So we go from the University of Hawaii over to California every other week, starting in January regularly. That is our schedule. And then we usually have a couple trips pre-season that we go to, to try to get some of our current players back home. And so we travel a ton. I would say that we probably put more miles than anybody else in the country.

And so we knew the girls were going to travel well. We didn't know how well they were going to travel though, until we went to on this international trip, and we were fortunate that we had a lot of boosters that traveled with us and our girls were always helping them with their luggage and helping them off and on the bus and just pleases and thank you's and making situations that could have been really difficult very, very pleasant. And so when you get a group that travels well with each other, then you know you're on the right track to something.

Something Noone Knows About Coach Laura Beeman

Morgan: Oh yes. It's true because traveling can be hard. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. What's one thing that no one knows about you that you can share with us?

Laura: That's a hard one for me. I don't know how many secrets I really have in my life. I'll give you two. One is just I think people see me as a coach all the time and so I don't know if they recognize that I can be kind of a softie. When you put your coaching hat on, you're always about wins and losses. You're always intense. You're always trying to get an outcome whether it's growing your kids or it's wanting to win, but I can be the first one that just cries at a commercial about a puppy. It doesn't matter. I can be a real softie. And I think as I'm getting older, I'm learning to share that more. I guess the second thing is I really enjoy to cook. I really enjoy cooking. And since I've been home through this whole experience and working from home, it's allowed me to kind of dabble in the kitchen. I don't know if I'm any good at it, but it's been fun. So those are probably just a couple of things that maybe a lot of people don't know about me.

Morgan: Oh no, that's awesome. And what a good time too because being indoors I bet you're having fun cooking right now.

Laura: Yeah. I need to work out more, but I am having fun. That's for sure.

Morgan: I feel that though. I feel that. Well, thank you for sharing that with us. If you're an athlete wanting to play for a team or university, what would your advice be to them?

Laura: Love it. Absolutely love it. When you get to college, it is not the same intensity level of commitment pick and choose that you have with your high school teams and with your travel teams. No offense to high school coaches. I know amazing high school coaches and I think that they would agree that college it's a step up. It's different. And so if you're going to get on, I don't care what sport it is and you're going to be on scholarship or you want to play at the next level, you have to love it, you have to commit to it because at times it's not fun. At times, it's a job. And as you know, when you pick your career path, there are days it's challenging. So really loving it and really understanding what you're getting yourself into and don't make those decisions in why you want to play out of fear, do it because you see something on the other side great waiting for you.

Coach Laura Beeman’s Next Big Adventure

Morgan: Oh no, I love that. That's great advice, I think for any athlete. So I appreciate you saying that. And I'm excited for people to hear that when they listen. Oh, well, what's your next adventure?

Laura: Oh my goodness. Right now, not burning my house down since I'm cooking. I don't know. Right now, I really want to get back with my team. I miss them. I miss their faces and even the days where they drive me crazy. I'm just craving for someone to drive me crazy and challenge me right now and the interaction, seeing them and we're a team that when we saw each other, we'd give each other big hugs or high fives or sit down and have really genuine connecting kind of conversations. And through the teleconferencing that we're doing right now, you get to see them, but you don't get to touch them and you don't get to feel their energy and their vibes.

So right now I don't really have a new adventure. I just miss my team and I can't wait for this to be over so that I can get back in front of them and we can be with each other.

Morgan: Oh, I know. And I think it's going to work out well. And hopefully, it's soon that everything's ending and people are getting better. And again, thank you for letting us get a glimpse into your team. I love listening to what coaches have to say and I feel like I've learned a lot from you today. So thank you for letting us get a glimpse into you and your team and your travels that you've had.

Laura: Well, I appreciate you guys having me on and wanting to take a glimpse inside the University of Hawaii and just the amazing young women that I have the opportunity to coach. So thank you.

Follow University of Hawaii Basketball:

• University of Hawaii Women’s Basketball Team Twitter

• Coach Laura Beeman Twitter

Podcast made in partnership with Acanela Expeditions

Theme Song - I’ll Just Be Me by Gravity Castle