New Season Sees Familiar Face on McCann Tech Sidelines
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Aubrey Thurston was a three-sport varsity athlete at McCann Technical School.
The fact that none of those sports was soccer did not stop Thurston from answering the call when her alma mater had a need going into the 2023-24 school year.
Monday was the first day for fall practice for most high school sports in the commonwealth. And at 10 a.m., Thurston was on the sideline directing the Hornets girls varsity soccer team.
It marked her second straight season as a coach just over four years after she was a McCann Tech student-athlete herself.
“I majored in health science and then I minored in coaching,” said Thurston, who graduated a semester early at Vermont’s Castleton University and came home to coach McCann Tech’s junior varsity softball team in the spring. “So I took a lot of coaching courses, a lot that prepared me to coach softball and coach soccer as well.
“Coaching softball in the spring, I saw that a lot of the things that I learned translate into the sport.”
While at Castelton, Thurston, then Aubrey Tetlow, was a four-year member of the school’s rugby team, leading the Spartans in tries (eight) and points (42) as a senior last fall.
In the classroom, she learned about coaching theory and coaching practice.
“It was a mix of both,” Thurston said. “So, we took generalized coaching courses, and then we got to pick two specialized courses. My specialized courses were basketball and softball. And in those classes, we got to run our practice plans with players and got to go to youth practices and learn what they were teaching at the different ages.
She has long known that she wanted to be a coach.
“I love sports,” Thurston said. “I realized, in the transition from high school to college, I didn’t want to stop playing. And then, as I was leaving college, I realized I didn’t want to stop being a part of the sports community. It was just a good community to be a part of.”
That said, Thurston laughed when asked if her high school self looked at long-time McCann Tech girls basketball and soccer coach Mike Dowling and thought, “I can do that.”
“No,” she said. “Coach Dowling is an amazing coach. I strive to be like him, honestly. He’s a really good guy. I didn’t think I would be here after graduating college. I didn’t think I’d be coaching at the high school that I went to.
“But I’m glad that I am.”
McCann Tech Athletic Director Robin Finnegan likewise is glad to have Thurston in the fold.
“She’s smart, she’s sports minded and she’s very competitive,” Finnegan said. “I’m excited to have her. She’s the whole package.”
Finnegan, who is helping out as an assistant with the soccer team this fall, reminisced with Thurston about the team’s run to the Western Massachusetts sectional final Thurston’s senior year at McCann Tech while the players took their first lap around the field of the preseason on Monday morning.
Five years ago, Thurston would have been the one doing the running – just on a cross country course.
Her experience in high school and college gives Thurston a breadth of knowledge to draw on as she begins her first season as a head coach.
“I was recruited in high school [to play rugby at Castleton],” Thurston said. “A lot of the different skills in basketball kind of translate to ruby. In the same way, a lot of the rugby skills and soccer skills are entwined as well.”