Irwins strike unlikely balance across Garland County

Typically when an athlete and parent who coaches are involved in the same sport, that coach gets to work with his or her child.

However, for Karrie and Allison Irwin, that is not the case as Karrie is the second-year head soccer coach of the Lakeside Lady Rams while Allison is a freshman forward for the Lake Hamilton Lady Wolves.

Karrie is the first to admit that it brings a different dynamic to life at home.

“I coached all my kids,” she said. “So with Allison, the youngest, it’s kind of sad not being able to be there to do that with her, but I also get to see the whole side of it like the other parents do; they get to just cheer it on and not have to worry about, ‘Did I teach her this? Did I do this correct?’ because I get to just be on the sidelines cheering her on — the good stuff.”

While most parents do get to attend most of their child’s games, with Karrie coaching the Lady Rams as her daughter plays at Lake Hamilton, she has few chances to watch her daughter play.

“Our game schedules, being off a little bit so that I get to go, I’ve enjoyed going to those,” she said of the chances to watch the Lady Wolves play at home while Lakeside does not have a game. “I’ve learned that sometimes it’s better for me to just keep my mouth shut and be the silent cheering mom because I do tend to want to coach and encourage. My husband being retired, it takes a little bit of that stress off of me because he gets to do the things with them now. When he was in the Air Force, I took care of all the kids, and now he kind of does that role. I feel good about that.”

To some extent, Karrie has enjoyed the ability to be just a mom and not a coach.

“Being the mom part, I love it,” she said. “At home with her on another team, it’s ‘What time does the bus leave? Do you have food? Do you have enough packed?’ — the normal mom stuff I get to do with her. If I was coaching her though, it would be different, so I get to wear the mom hat and just enjoy the fun part of it.”

Lakeside traveled to Pearcy March 9 for the two teams to match up for the first time this season, and Allison admits that playing against her mom was different.

“It just feels a little awkward,” she said. “Win or lose, my mom doesn’t care.”

Karrie agreed that it can be awkward, but Allison is not the first of Karrie’s children to play against her. Her daughter Rachael played against her while Karrie coached at Hot Springs.

“I played against Rachael,” she admitted. “Rachael played for Lake Hamilton when I coached for Hot Springs. She had the first hat trick against me. That was my first experience playing and coaching against my own child and her hitting it to my team with three shots.

“That’s a pride moment; you get all proud about it, too. When I’m watching her on the field, I think it’s good because of how I’ve been teaching them to be using the competition. I want her to do good, and I want her team to do good, but I want to do good, and I want my team to do good. I’ve reached out to her coach a little bit with film and be a little bit helpful, but I’m also remembering to pull back. I don’t want to cross the line where her coach is looking at me as, ‘That’s her mom.’”

While it might be awkward for Allison and Karrie, Lake Hamilton head coach Stacey Scott has not noticed any difference regarding the striker’s game play or that of the rest of the Lady Wolves.

“I’ve never seen anything different,” she said. “There was one practice, we were talking about Lakeside coming up, and we asked her what she could tell us about Lakeside. Then we all laughed and went about our business. The kids don’t treat her any different, and when we’re playing, it’s not a big difference. She may feel a little strange, but as far as the whole team and Lakeside, I don’t think they’ve put any thought into it.”

With Allison, Karrie admitted that there are times that she stops to watch her play instead of just treating her like a normal opponent.

“I watch her,” she said. “I get into the game a lot, too. I’ll watch the ball go, so I’m watching where it’s going. Of course when she’s got the ball, I’m watching her and wondering, ‘She could do this,’ or ‘I should tell her this.’ I think the last game we played, I talked to her about what her and one of the other players up front could do to draw off a defensive player and attacking the goal and having an opportunity. My assistant coach told me, ‘Don’t tell her until after we played her the second game. Quit coaching her to make her better until after the next game.’”

While Karrie got to work with her older children, she didn’t have much of an opportunity to do that with Allison due to her interest in other sports and activities.

“With her was a little different,” Karrie explained. “She had other sports; she was into cheerleading, and I have no idea anything about that. She did all the tumbling and cheering, and she still does. We encouraged the soccer, but she wasn’t into it as much as my older two. When I was playing in Guam, my older two practiced with me and she watched. She was too young. She didn’t get to play along with me a lot. When we got to Hot Springs, she did some of the Upward and she played here and there. She wasn’t into it as much as my older girls.”

Scott feels that while Allison is a strong player, she has earned a starting spot for the Lady Wolves.

“She’s just a freshman,” she said. “She

starts for us. She’s got a long way to go, but she really hustles. She ends up at the right places at the right time. Several times, I’ve seen her get her foot on the ball just enough to make that little pass around the defense. She’s just where she needs to be at the right time. She’s quick.

“I know it’s probably pretty hard for her to play against her mom, but she does a good job for us. That position is kind of open right now, and she’s filling it for the most part. I think she’ll keep coming along. She’s just learning. She’s out here with seniors. She’ll come along for us.

Karrie is impressed by the camaraderie that goes beyond the individual teams, something that she sees more clearly while coaching against her daughter.

“One of her friends is on my team, several of them, and I hear them say things like, ‘Go, Allie!’” she said. “I’m proud about that because that means they’ve got good sportsmanship, and I’ll turn around and joke and glare at them. I’m wanting to say, ‘Go, Allie,” too. I want to say that to all of them. She likes to harrass me at home, too. Today, she asked me, ‘Are you ready for that big L, mom?’ I just keep my mouth shut and let her do her little pick, pick, pick. She’s making it fun. It’s good competition.”

There is a balance that the pair try to strike when it comes to talking about the sport.

“I try not to talk to her about soccer at home,” Karrie said. “It’s not really anything we really talk about unless she’s frustrated about practice, or she’s frustrated about anything that happened. I’ll talk to her and explain what I think about it, and we pretty much let it go and go home and have our life.

“I’ve gone to her games, and I’ve scouted. I watched Hope, watched Texarkana. I’ve watched any game at home that we’re not playing. I’ve found myself watching and thinking about my team, too, and encouraging my team to go watch. They’ll sit there and cheer on when they’re playing Texarkana. It’s healthy for us all. I get to scout, and I get to watch my kid. We talk a lot about what we can do. I try to film a little bit for her and let her look. I want her to do better. For the most part, we leave it at school.”

While the Lady Wolves are set to face off against Lakeside tonight at Austin Field, Karrie hopes that some day she will get to coach Allison.

“I’d like her to come play for me,” she said. “Sometimes I just think, I feel bad I don’t get to one-on-one coach with her because as a coach, you don’t have a lot of time one-on-one. As a mom and a coach, I’d like to do that more, but I don’t get that time. It kind of goes back and forth. I enjoy seeing her, and I enjoy competing against her; that’s nice.”

Kickoff for tonight’s game is set for 5:30 p.m. at Lakeside’s Austin Field.