LYNCHBURG, Va. (WFXR) — When it comes to college field hockey….all roads lead to Lynchburg Hornets head field hockey coach Enza Steele.
When Steele came to Lynchburg in 1978, she not only was the head field hockey coach, she was also the head women’s lacrosse coach doing both jobs for 22 seasons. Now after 45 seasons, she is going to retire when this year wraps up.
Wednesday night against Roanoke College she added to being the all-time wins leader in college field hockey getting 659. If you combine her 241 women’s lacrosse victories and you get 900 college wins. She is a National Field Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Famer. Steele has some strong keys to her successful coaching career.
“I think the one thing that’s the most important is building relationships and I think that’s what I love. The most important thing is every player is different. Every player has different moves has different abilities and it’s just like I don’t know putting it all together so it becomes perfect,” said Steele.
For Coach Enza Steele, when you look inside of her office you see a lot of honors and accolades she has accomplished in her 45-year career in leading the Lynchburg Hornets Field Hockey team. It is the love for her players that shines through!
“I just feel like I all of the rewards for winning are with my players. Seeing that makes all things list the rewards were seeing my players success. I want them to leave Lynchburg, get a great job have a family and do some coaching so for me it’s been about rewards. It is hard to let go of that,” said Steele.
Coach Steele said the biggest thing she is going to miss the most is the relationships with her players. As for what comes next…..she has plans and feelings about the future.
“I have been crying a lot about it and you know the end of an era is a little shocking, but hopefully it’ll give me an opportunity to focus more on my immediate family, as well as myself and travel the world,” said Steele.
Coach Steele will get another on Friday as she will be inducted to the University of Lynchburg athletic hall of fame.
