This episode of the SPAN Athletics Coaches POV PodcastSeries features a heartfelt conversation with Lauren Reid, a passionate mom, wife, and celebrated softball coach who has impacted generations of girls in her rural Texas hometown. Host Lindsay explores Lauren’s coaching milestones, her commitment to community, and how faith, tradition, and resilience shape both her career and the student-athletes she serves.
Featured Guest
Lauren Reid: Former varsity softball head coach (9 years), member of the 100 Wins Coaching Club (103 wins), Coaching Staff of the Year honoree, founder of the Texas Hold’em select softball team, special education teacher, and devoted mom and mentor.
Key Topics & Highlights
Lauren’s Coaching Journey:
Transitioned from standout playerto coach, inspired by a desire to give back to her hometown and to stay involved with the sport she loves after deciding not to play in college. Highlights of her coaching career include a remarkable 26-1 season, an undefeated district run (9-0), a 16-game win streak, and deep playoff success that energized the entire community.
Community and Youth Engagement:
Lauren and her husband created the Texas Hold’em tournament team to bridge gaps in player development, attract more girls to local softball, and create a high-quality, year-round training environment, especially for their daughters and local talent. Discusses the power of small-towncommunity support, from raucous crowds to rallying together through tragedy and loss.
Fostering Teamwork & Relationships:
Lauren shares practical strategies for nurturing positive communication, instilling accountability, and handling inevitable team conflicts. Reflects on how coaching both her children and countless others cemented a culture of family and togetherness, extending beyond the field to weddings, life events, and lasting friendships.
Adapting Coaching & Teaching:
Her experience in special education helped shape her individualized approach: meeting every athlete where they are, much like supporting diverse learners in the classroom. Emphasizes that supporting athletes goes far beyond wins—coaches serve as parents, mentors, and role modelsinvested in their players’ goals, challenges, and successes.
Tradition and Family Legacy:
Shares the pride and emotion of watching her own daughters compete on the same field she and her sister once did, highlighting deep roots and the enduring role of tradition in Alto athletics.
Coping with Loss & Building Resiliency:
Offers a moving account of guiding her community through unimaginable tragedies, highlighting the profound impactof collective support and faith during moments of grief and adversity.
Balancing Coaching, Teaching, and Motherhood:
Details the realities of rural coaching—serving as field maintenance crew, bus driver, and mother figure—and the life lessons her daughters and players gained by witnessing her hard work and dedication.
Emotional Endings and Lasting Impact:
Discusses the bittersweet experience of stepping away from high school coaching, preparing for her last home game, and the ongoing relationships with former players that define hertrue “wins.”
Redefining Winning:
Lauren reveals how her definition of success evolved, from scoreboard victories to measurable personal and team growth, goal-setting, and lifelong impact on her athletes.
Connect
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Call to Action
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