Waltham High boys basketball coach Mike Wilder set to host coaching summit

Attend any high school sporting event in the city and you will understand the level of passion that the Waltham community has for its sports.

Whether it be a football tilt in the fall or a baseball game in the spring, the local crowd is abuzz with chatter on the current state of Waltham High School athletics and how the landscape can potentially improve. 

What it can lack sometimes is the forum for those invested in the community to share their valuable thoughts.

The Play All Your Sports coaching summit on June 8 at the high school auditorium will provide parents, local youth athletics leaders and WHS coaches alike the opportunity to voice their opinions and hear from some local leaders in the sporting community. Hosted by boys basketball coach and business teacher Mike Wilder, the discussion will revolve around the mindset that athletes and parents bring to local sports and open the floor to some interesting topics.

“It’s an opportunity to bring coaches and parents together,” Wilder said. “That is my vision. We need to refocus on what is important and the experience everyone can get playing a bunch of different sports. We also want to talk about what Waltham High School can offer academically. We want parents and students to get an idea of what is here. Often it might be overlooked by the community when there are questions about going to a different school. Maybe we have been underrepresented in what the school can bring.”

Speakers include WHS alum and Professional Physical Therapy clinical director partner David Melchiorri, Wentworth Institute of Technology women’s basketball coach Kelly Cole, Rivier University men’s basketball coach Tommy Glynn and WHS science teacher Marisa Maddox. Wilder plans to moderate the talk.

“I’m going to add a bit on youth development as well,” said Wilder. “It’s about the emphasis on that development as opposed to just being focused on winning. We are going to layer in our own stance on the endgame. Our parents need to think about what the endgame is. Everybody is out there playing club sports and specializing, but we need to think about what that bottom line is. Are you burning them out or running the risk of getting hurt? We’re trying to get the parents to think about what the kids are doing as they go through the process of playing sports. Are we teaching them the things that are going to help them in life or becoming overly focused on if they can play in college?”

Talking points the panel plans to address include limiting athlete burnout and the benefit of involvement in multiple sports rather than specializing in one endeavor all year long. 

Wilder’s idea to organize the event was sparked by a conversation with Jeff Abellard, the managing partner of Bistro 781 on Moody Street. The Waltham native and former Hawks basketball player wanted to celebrate the WHS coaches with a gathering and Wilder evolved the idea.

“He sees that coaching has tons of pros but some cons as well,” Wilder said. “One of those is appreciation. He felt like we should do something. We thought it would be great if we set up something that provided educational background for coaches and parents. That is where it stemmed from. Let’s celebrate everybody. We want people to see that we are trying to get the word out and connect the youth with the high school through exposure to who the coaches are. There is still education that could be done in terms of how the coaches connect with younger kids.”The conversation is set to begin at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, at the new WHS at 617 Lexington St., with a celebration to follow at Bistro 781. Ultimately, this summit could lead to a series of talks down the road and truly open up the floor to a consistently wide dialogue, Wilder said.