By Aaron Allen
The Seattle Medium
Coaching is not an easy profession, but then there are those who love their sport and love teaching the sport and Rainier Beach’s new head coach for women’s basketball Edwina Martin-Arnold’s passion for coaching basketball is evident when one looks at her coaching resume.
Although this is her first year at Rainier Beach, Arnold’s coaching resume spans the course of 40 years. In addition to coaching various teams over the years, in 2007 she, along with Vanessa McClendon, helped establish the Northwest Magic Girls AAU basketball program, which helps prepare young athletes for high school and college level sports and academics.
“I have been coaching off and on for some 30-40 years,” says Arnold. “I coached my kids in the CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) league and in 2007 a girlfriend and I we started the Northwest Magic Girls Basketball and it’s thriving.”
Arnold’s approach to the game is simple but effective – play tough and disciplined defense, maintain your composure under difficult circumstances, and conditioning. The recipe has worked throughout her career as an AAU coach and it is beginning to produce results at Rainier Beach.
Born in Texas and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Arnold excelled both academically and athletically while attending Spanaway Lake High School in South Pierce County. A standout in both basketball and track, Arnold came from a family of athletes, and emulated her older sister in all things related to sports.
“I followed my sister, Paula, when it came to sports,” says Arnold. “She ran hurdles, I ran hurdles. She played guard, I played guard. So as far as inspiration I followed my sister.”
After high school, Arnold attended the University of Washington where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism. Upon completing her undergraduate program, she went on to attend the University of Puget Sound and obtained a law degree. Arnold then went on to practice law as a prosecutor and became a successful novelist publishing several books and is currently working on a new book. Yet even with all of her personal accomplishments, Arnold’s desire to teach, coach and mentor never went away.
In Arnold’s first season with the Vikings, she is finding common ground and compromise as her athletes are beginning to buy in and accept her style and philosophy of the game of basketball and winning.
Along with defense, Arnold drives a demanding physical regiment to get her girls ready for competition. At first the girls were a bit apprehensive about conditioning but now they have found that all of the hard work is starting to pay off.
“I think coach [Arnold] is definitely old fashion,” says Jordan Ball, a senior guard on the team.
“We do a lot of conditioning, which is a lot running and pushups, which is not always fun,” she says with a jovial laugh. “But I think it has definitely helped us in the long run, I have seen improvements in my endurance and my teammates endurance.”
Although they are lacking in size, Arnold sees great potential in her team. Their tenacity on defense gives them a competitive edge especially in close games, but, according to Arnold, keeping their composure is one of the things the team is working on. However, Arnold likes what she sees on the defensive side of the ball and that, she says, makes for exciting basketball.
“Our defense keeps us in every game,” says Arnold.
“I see desire, hard work, and when they put a complete game together I think we can shock some people,” she adds. “I think we can be one of the best teams in the state when we put a complete game together.”
Ball agrees and says that the team is buying into and believing the coaches philosophy at the right time of the season.
“Our coach is obviously new to our school, I think she is good, we might not always agree [on strategy] but when we do execute what she is trying to teach we actually end up doing really well,” says Ball.
Motivation is also a big part of Arnold’s coaching style and it resonates with her players.
“Sometimes our team can have a tendency to panic in situations like close games and she [Arnold] is good at bringing us together and calming us down,” says Ball. “And having her there not panicking definitely influences us.”
With a record of 4-5 in Metro League play, Rainier Beach is improving and holding their own in a very competitive league, which has five team, including Rainier Beach, within one game of each other. Arnold may have her hands full but she believes that her experience will aide her in producing a successful program.
While nobody knows how the season will play out for the Rainier Bach Lady Vikings, one thing, according to Arnold, is for sure — their games will be exciting, competitive and fun to watch.
“Come out and see my girls play,” says Arnold. “They work hard on defense so it is an exciting game, and our games are a lot of fun.”
“I would love to engage the community, the elementary schools and the middle schools and get everybody excited about Rainier Beach basketball,” Arnold concludes.
Building up and encouraging young people to achieve their goals is what coaching is all about and Rainier Beach’s Edwina Martin-Arnold exemplifies that sentiment.
