At the beginning of his career, Adrian Goodwin didn’t expect to be doing double duty as both a teacher and a football coach. However, coaching and teaching have their important moments for Goodwin.

“For coaching, it’s the competition and victories. You get the upsides of wins. With teaching, I would say it’s the light bulb moments, like when you see the light bulbs come on in kids’ heads,” Goodwin said.

Goodwin finds joy out of seeing kids learn and make things.

“It’s also really rewarding to see student products and see what they make with the opportunities you give them,” Goodwin said.

With his experience playing football in high school, Goodwin started coaching at Grandview High School when he started his teaching career.

“I was asked by a coach where I started teaching at Grandview High School if I was interested in coaching football, and I said yes and enjoyed it,” Goodwin said. “So I kept doing it for a couple more years.”

Goodwin enjoys the challenge of teaching as well as guiding kids in the sport he grew up playing.

“I enjoy teaching. I think teaching’s far more challenging than coaching. Coaching is just kind of like your fun hobby,” Goodwin said.

Despite one role being more challenging than the other, Goodwin finds fulfillment in both coaching and teaching.

“You get to associate with your favorite sport. It’s fun interacting with the kids and competing,” Goodwin said, “but I like teaching just because of the daily challenge it represents or brings.”

Through empathy and understanding, Goodwin builds relationships.

“[You need] empathy. I think you have to put yourself in the shoes of an athlete and a student and understand how they view, whether it be material or how they look at the game,” Goodwin said. “Once you kind of put yourself in their shoes, it makes it easier to explain what’s expected of them.”