South Georgia - In The Game High School Sports Magazine

Berrien High head softball coach Michelle Jones is a true hometown product. Except for four years of college, her entire life has been spent in the Berrien County School System. She has won state titles as both a player and a coach, has watched women’s sports evolve from an after-thought into a major enterprise rivaling that of many men’s programs, and, as of October 14, has been accepted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame.

Jones was a member of Berrien’s 1982 State Champion softball team; eleven years later she won state as a coach. Jones did the same thing with basketball – she won the title as a player and as an assistant coach. During her 22 years as a softball coach at Berrien, her teams have won 12 region titles, including five out of eight years since going to fastpitch, and have been to the state playoffs 17 times. At the time of this interview, she had won 453 games and lost just 127, a .781 winning percentage.

Jones has certainly been successful, and she believes much of that success is directly related to the feeder program in Berrien County, the quality assistants she’s had over the years and the support the community has given her teams. “We have a very strong recreational program, and we’ve had some great athletes come through. People expect to win,” she says.

It is worth noting that she didn’t always plan to enter the coaching profession. Prior to suffering a serious knee injury her senior season, Jones had offers to play Division I basketball. However, the injury scared those schools away and her bum knee ended her athletic career prematurely. After two years of basketball and softball at Brewton-Parker College, she left athletics behind and finished her education at Valdosta State. “I originally wanted to be a physical therapist. But I decided on coaching to pass along what I had learned to others. I come from a long line of educators and I love sports,” she says.

That decision led to a career as one of the top women’s coaches in the state. In addition to her long list of titles, Jones has coached two Georgia Athletic Coaches’ Association (GACA) All-Star games, and will coach the South team in the Georgia Dugout Club All-Star game this year. Twenty-four of her players have signed college scholarships, and she’s had two All-Americans and two GACA Players of the Year. One of her former players, Marti Littlefield, broke the homerun record at Valdosta State as a freshman in 2008.

Maybe the most interesting – and encouraging – event Coach Jones has seen take place over the course of her career is the increase in  opportunities

for women athletes around the state. When she was playing and in the early days of her coaching career, women’s athletics was little more than an afterthought in many areas. That has changed, and women’s sports have advanced a great deal in recent years. “There are so many more opportunities. College scholarships are more plentiful, and women athletes are receiving more attention than ever. They are taken more seriously,” says Coach Jones.

The training methods – and talent level – have also advanced. Female athletes are taking the same approach to athletics that many male athletes do. They are specializing in one or two sports and dedicating themselves to year-round training programs with the intention of playing at the next level. “Women have really progressed athletically. Our girls do the same thing that the men do – they lift weights and do speed and agility work. There are also combines and camps for women athletes. Some are getting recruited as sophomores and juniors,” she says.

As important as these developments in women’s athletics are, the athletes still have to show up and go to work every day. In a time when kids have so many distractions and gadgets at their disposal, motivating them to do the same thing day in and day out through the course of a long season can be a daunting task. For Jones and her staff (which includes Jarrett Luke and her husband, Wayne), the key is teaching the players to believe in themselves. They set goals at the beginning of each year and monitor their progress throughout the season. She is also determined to keep a positive atmosphere around her team. “I bring in quotes of the day to help motivate the players. We also focus on the team, which helps block out a lot of the distractions. We also stress the mental aspect of the game. Players have to be mentally tough to compete at a high level,” she says.

So how has that worked out this year? Berrien graduated a number of key players last year; Coach Jones only had one returning senior on the 2009 squad. Despite the inexperience, the team posted a 29-6 record and placed second in Region 1-AA to Cook County. “Cook had a lot of seniors and they were ready for us,” says Jones. “The coach is a good friend of mine. Our games are very competitive, and it’s always a big rivalry.” The second place finish earned Berrien a spot in the state playoffs, which were set to begin at the time this story was written. “We exceeded expectations this year. We knew we had the talent, but we feared that our youth would hamper us on the field,” she says. Fortunately for Coach Jones and her staff, those fears never came to pass. Berrien beat the odds and is once again playing well into October.

After all these years, the stress of long seasons, raising a family and teaching full-time is starting to take its toll on Coach Jones – but not enough to retire. She used to coach basketball and track as well, but has stepped away from those sports and focuses solely on softball. “I love the game too much. I can’t stop,” she says. “I have good assistants, and I play it day by day and year by year.” It gets harder and harder to get up and get going, especially after four knee surgeries. But her overall health is good, the program is solid and she’s still having fun. “It’s fun to see the kids be successful in life and on the field. I enjoy what I do and as long as my health holds up, I’ll keep coaching,” she says. •