(Guthrie Center) The Why I Coach podcast this week takes us to Guthrie Center for a visit with ACGC cross country and girls track coach Colin Shawgo.
ACGC has had a terrific run of success in cross country and girls track under Shawgo’s direction. Motivation has been one of the biggest factors in what they’ve accomplished. “Distance running there isn’t a huge secret to it. You have to put in a lot of hard work and be willing to push yourself to the limit. As a coach my main job is to be there to push the kids to do that.”
Part of the process has been jumping in with the kids and being willing to put in the work. “The main way that I lead is by example. Coming in as a young coach to Guthrie Center seven years ago the big thing I did was get the kids to buy into how we should do things and work hard. The main way I did that was by jumping in and doing the work with them.”
Being around young people is one of his favorite parts of the gig. “We have great kids for all the sports that I coach. Because they are such hard workers and great kids it is a lot of fun to be around them everyday and watch them grow both as people and as athletes.” Shawgo also helps with the girls basketball and speech programs for the Chargers.
Coaching has been the plan all along for Shawgo. “Oh yeah. I really entered the teaching profession with the idea that really what I wanted to do was coach the youth. I’d always been interested in coaching ever since I was little. Coaches were the biggest influences in my life so I wanted to be that influence in other kids lives.” Shawgo grew up in Nevada and went to college at Central.
Distance running was without a doubt what the school was best known for during their first couple of years together as Adair-Casey and Guthrie Center. He essentially built things from square one. “Our program at Guthrie Center had two varsity girls and four varsity boys. The middle school program had five boys and girls. To combine an A-C program and a GC program and have as much success as we did that first year I took a lot of pride in that. I hope our kids did too. I remember our first state meet we made it as a team boys and girls. I remember looking out and seeing our flags flying and we had 60-70 fans there cheering us on. To see that I knew that the ACGC community was really special. We had something really exciting brewing there.”
Eventually he’d like to be able to become a college professor and coach at the next level.
Previous Coaches
Eric Maassen, (AHST grad) Sheldon
Jerome Hoegh, Atlantic grad (West Sioux)
Gaylord Schelling, Atlantic and Tri-Center
Trevor Gipple, (Griswold grad) SW Valley
Eric Stein (Harlan grad) Iowa Central
Darrell Burmeister, Nodaway Valley
Chad Harder, (Walnut Grad) Tri-Center
Kevin Suhr, (Walnut Grad) Blue Valley High School, KS
