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Meet Crystal Flint: Girls Basketball Coach, Substitute Teacher Coordinator

By Staff, 07/19/21, 1:15PM CDT

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Our faculty are dedicated to our students! Many of them don't only teach - they also coach or advise clubs as well. 

To celebrate our coaches who also teach or are staff at CDH, we're sharing a Q&A with each of them over the next few months! Today, meet Crystal Flint, Girls Basketball Coach and Substitute Teacher Coordinator.

Did you participate in the sport you coach as a student-athlete? 
Yes, I played basketball in high school and then received a Division 1 scholarship at the University of Minnesota.  After graduating from the U of MN, I was an assistant coach at Minnesota and the head coach at Concordia University in St. Paul.

What made you decide to coach? 
My head coach at the U of MN (Linda Hill-MacDonald) told me that I did well with kids at the camps we used to conduct as scholar-athletes for our community outreach.  She said I would be a great coach one day and if she has a position she would hire me but I had to graduate. 

How long have you been coaching here at CDH? 
I just completed my 3rd year here at CDH. 

What subject do you teach/what is your job? 
I serve as a substitute teacher and I also coordinate the substitutes for the building. 

What do you love about coaching? 
I love seeing the scholar-athletes reach their goals no matter how long it takes. Seeing their growth and maturation is very fulfilling. I also love teaching many of the life lessons that I learned through playing basketball. I learned lessons from my coaches that I have carried with me throughout my life.

How does your experience as a coach improve your work? 
My experiences coaching helps me be effective when I am in the classroom and vice versa.  I am able to manage a classroom and help students through perhaps challenges that they don't feel they can overcome. My experiences coaching also helps students when they become anxious about an upcoming test or perhaps feeling overwhelmed because they don't understand a particular problem and assist them with setting goals and a plan of execution (much like approaching a game). 

How does your experience as a teacher improve your coaching?  
My experience as a teacher helps my coaching because it allows me to practice planning and have a system in place to reach the expected outcome. I like to take the same approach as teachers in that my aim is to give structure, assess my players' talents, engage them, motivate them, encourage them to think critically, work independently and collectively with their teammates, and ultimately the goal is to help them master their strengths to reach their goals.  

Do you have any favorite memories from your time coaching? 
I have coached at all of the various levels from parks and recreation, AAU, high school, collegiately. I have coached boys and girls at various ages and some of my favorite memories have been time spent off of the court just getting to know my players and exposing them to more than basketball. I do retreats with my teams and those have been the memories that I have cherished the most, doing talent shows, painting, community service or just sitting around talking. 

Read about previously featured coaches:
Chris Babcock
Amy Bellus '90
Rob Bollinger
Mike Brewer
Jesse Cusick '98