Just call him coach -- and dad
Four families learn to strike a delicate soccer balance
By Matt Le Cren
Joe Moreau, Ed Watson, Guy Callipari and Pete Lambert have all coached in at least one state championship game.
That’s not the only thing they have in common.
All four veteran DuPage County area coaches have daughters who are finishing their senior seasons playing either for or against them.
Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau coaches his daughter Sophia, while Watson does the same with his daughter Grace at Naperville Central.
Wheaton Warrenville South boss Guy Callipari’s daughter Olivia plays for Batavia, which played the Tigers to a 0-0 tie on May 9.
Lambert, an assistant coach under Julie Bergstrom at Waubonsie Valley, has two daughters who play for Oswego East; Miranda is a senior and Maddie is a sophomore.
Parents and offspring of all four families have been intertwined with one another for decades, and their shared experiences represent an interesting mix of approaches and results for both generations.
Sophia Moreau and Grace Watson have been together since they were babies. As toddlers, they played in the sand of the long-jump pits at Naperville Central’s Memorial Stadium when the state finals were held there in the late 1990s.
That was during an era when their fathers were at the height of their success. Ed Watson coached Naperville Central to second-place finishes in 1994-95, and the following year Joe Moreau won the first of five-straight state titles at St. Charles.
Moreau’s wife, Angela, was pregnant with Sophia during the 1996 finals at Conant.
“I remember looking up in the crowd watching Angela pace back and forth and thinking, ‘Who is that lady up there?’ ” Joe Moreau recalled. “'Oh, that’s my wife.' We beat Sandburg that day.”
Angela Moreau and Ed Watson’s wife, Barb, got to know each other while looking after their daughters during the state finals at Naperville Central.
“There were a lot of games where (the kids) were palling around, just running around, two little girls having a good time while their dads were dealing with high school girls,” Ed Watson said.
Pluses and minuses
The dads are still dealing with high school girls, a group that now includes their daughters. For all their shared history, Sophia Moreau and Grace Watson have experienced the advantages and disadvantages of playing for their fathers in different ways.
Sophia Moreau is one of the top center backs in the area. She has been on varsity for four seasons, the last three as a starter, and will continue playing at Bowling Green.
Even though her father, who came to Neuqua Valley in 2003 and was an assistant coach on the Wildcats’ 2005 state title team before becoming head coach the following year, is one of the most successful coaches in Illinois history, she wasn’t always focused exclusively on soccer.
“She played travel softball and competitive basketball and she danced when she was real young,” Joe Moreau said. “Soccer was her favorite.”
But not because her father coached.
“I started playing soccer pretty much as early as you can start, but I didn’t really take it seriously,” Sophia said. “My mom and dad never forced me to play. They gave me the option to play whatever sport I wanted.
“I didn’t really like soccer, and I tried to rebel against it, so I played softball and basketball. But then I started realizing that I actually like this sport, not because it was around me all the time but because I started to enjoy it myself because nobody forced me to play.
“I kind of learned to like it without it being thrust upon me, so I think it was in middle school when I started being more serious about it, like thinking about maybe playing at the next level.”
Like most father-coaches, Joe Moreau said he has to guard against being too critical of his daughter.
“It’s been tough on her at times because I’m probably harder on her than anyone,” Joe said. “I yell at her maybe a little bit more. My expectations may be a little bit higher for her.
Can't play favorites
Those expectations are naturally higher because every coach has to deal with people who say they play favorites with their own kids. That was the case for both the Moreaus and the Watsons.
Sophia Moreau soon proved the doubters wrong, earning all-conference honors last year and the scholarship to Bowling Green.
“Making varsity as a freshman, there are always naysayers saying it’s because of your dad, but it was never kids who played with her (who said it),” Joe said. “They realized she belonged there; it was always kids who weren’t on the team (who were negative). She’s handled it well.”
Sophia’s strong sense of independencae helped her cope. She has known since fifth grade that she wants to be a commercial pilot. She already flies a two-seat Cessna 152 and hopes to earn her pilot’s license later this year.
“Playing for my dad is kind of hard because he’s tough on me, and hearing everyone else make comments like, ‘Oh, she’s only on the team because of him.’ So having to play through that is difficult,” Sophia said. “But I think it helps that he does watch me every day at practice so that on the weekends you can go out and practice something that I need to work on. It’s like I have a teacher at home.”
Grace Watson has two teachers at home and school. Her mother teaches Spanish at Naperville Central, so she never gets away from her parents.
But her talent level and high school experience are different from Sophia Moreau’s. Grace, a reserve forward, did not make the varsity until her junior year and plays sparingly. She got teased because of her father’s position, but for a different reason.
“Oh, yeah, I went through that freshman year,” Grace said. “Because I wasn’t on varsity I got, ‘Oh, you’re not good because your dad didn’t put you on his team and he’s the head coach.’”
So is being the coach’s kid a no-win situation?
“I think either way you’re going to get it,” Grace said. “Like junior year I got, ‘Oh, you’re on the team because of your dad.’
“Players think that and some people who don’t even play soccer, like boys at our school, will say things like that, but you can’t let it get to you because you’ve played soccer your whole life, so at some point you earned it.”
Takes on liaison role
In one respect, Grace Watson has a unique view of the game from spending so much time sitting on the bench. While she will not play in college, she does harbor aspirations of being a coach and serves as an unofficial go-between with her teammates and father.
“Coming into high school, I think a lot of the girls realized that he’s my dad and sometimes if somebody isn’t too willing to step up and say something, I’m always the one that kind of gets pushed into that position,” Grace said.
Grace Watson is the only one of the daughters who is not a star player, but she said that will help her be a better coach.
“I’m more of a mental player,” Grace said. “I don’t have the skills to do everything that some of the girls do, but when I’m on the bench I notice a lot of things and I think I help in the way I direct people if they’re not sure what’s going on, and I pick up on plays really fast.”
Being a coach’s daughter has helped, too.
“I like having him as my coach,” Grace said. “When we go home, the talk of soccer doesn’t stop. Like the other night at dinner he stood up and showed me what I should have done at practice differently.
“The learning of soccer never really stops, and I like that. It helps me become a better mental player.”
Grace Watson will attend Illinois State and major in education, planning to follow her parents into teaching, perhaps special education. Her father is impressed with her knowledge.
“There are times where she and I talk about the game, not the game that she’s necessarily playing,” Ed said. “She’s been keeping our book and sitting on our bench off and on since fifth grade, so here’s somebody who has been watching the game at the varsity level and listening to the girls and the coaches on the sideline talk about what should be happening for many more years than most varsity players would ever get. So she certainly has an understanding of the game beyond most other high school players.”
Grace is the youngest of three siblings. Her brothers Michael, 24, and Steven, 23, also played for their dad.
“It’s been a lot of fun coaching Grace because she had an opportunity to watch me coach my two sons, and she has had a much easier time dealing with me as coach and dad,” Ed said. “I think the other thing that made it easier was I learned a lot of lessons coaching my boys in soccer and baseball.
“One of the big things I told her was that I am always your dad and when you are done with me being your coach, you just need to say, ‘I need you to be my dad.’ And she was strong enough to be able to do that, and I was smart enough to know to be quiet and just be her dad.”
While Grace shares her parents’ desire to make a difference through teaching and coaching, she is a neat amalgamation of her parents’ qualities.
“I think she has the best combination of her mother and of her father,” Ed said. “If she was only like me, that would be awful, but she’s got the kindheartedness of her mother, so she can temper the harshness that comes from me.”
And the negatives?
“She’s got her mother’s height, which soccerwise is unfortunate,” Ed quipped. “Some people claim that I roll my eyes at people, and I’ve occasionally caught her doing that as well.”
Keeping things light
Ed Watson and Joe Moreau share a sarcastic sense of humor that neither is afraid to use when their teams perform poorly. But they are both self-deprecating.
“Sophia has her mom’s height and beauty, but she’s got my sense of humor,” said Joe Moreau, who added all three things are a positive. (Sophia stands 5-foot-10.)
Unlike the Watsons, the Moreaus try not to take soccer home with them.
“We don’t talk a whole lot about soccer at home unless she brings it up and asks questions,” Joe Moreau said. “We’ll watch games together, EPL games or women’s games on TV, and she’ll ask questions. But for the most part at home I’m her dad.
Being an only child, Sophia has learned to rely on herself.
“She’s pretty confident in herself. She’s a very independent person. She’s known since fifth grade what she wants to do with her life.”
The Moreaus have also known the Lamberts for years. Joe Moreau and Pete Lambert both coach for the Team Chicago club team, for which their daughters play.
Miranda Lambert, who is Oswego East’s leading scorer and will play for Kent State in the fall, can relate to Sophia Moreau. Pete Lambert coached both girls for years.
“I think that it really has been great having him as my coach,” Miranda Lambert said. “He’s made me the soccer player that I am today, and I wouldn’t have had all these amazing opportunities without him helping me.”
That’s not to say everything is always rosy.
“There are positives in the fact that we have a lot of time to bond because of soccer, whether it was driving to games or working in the back yard,” Miranda said. “But there was also negatives because if he’s coaching and you lose, he can get mad and (take it out on you). He’s really tough on me because he wants me to be the best I can be.”
Pete Lambert, who has a third daughter, 11-year-old Mikayla, would have loved to coach his daughters at the high school level but couldn't afford to move into Waubonsie Valley’s district. Still, he cherishes the time he gets to spend with them.
“The neatest thing is to be able to travel with them, spend one-on-one time with them on car rides and plane trips,” Lambert said. “You become open with each other having conversations about life and soccer and telling jokes. That was pretty rewarding for me.
"I’m going to cry like a little boy when I drop (Miranda) off for college.”
Not always easy
But coaching your offspring isn’t as easy as it might seem.
“Coaching your kid is one of the hardest things, and it’s really hard on them,” Lambert said. “I think one of the most difficult things is it’s hard to just be a dad. I’m proud (Miranda) has played all four years of high school soccer with all the pressure of being a coach's kid. She loves the high school environment, and I love having my daughter playing high school.”
One thing parents and children don’t love is having to play against each other, which has been the case for the Lamberts and the Calliparis.
The Lamberts experienced it two years ago in a first-round playoff game when Waubonsie Valley eliminated Oswego East. They both, in separate conversations, described it the same way.
“That was the weirdest feeling ever,” Lambert said. “I’m rooting for my daughter on the one hand and at the same time I’m coaching my team.”
“It was a weird situation,” Miranda said. “He’s my dad, so he’s always trying to cheer for me, but then he had to cheer for his own team. I totally get it. It was his job.”
Olivia Callipari, who like Miranda aspires to be a physical therapist, helped Batavia beat Wheaton Warrenville South 2-0 two years ago and faced Guy for the final time last Saturday, when the Tigers and Bulldogs played to a 0-0 tie.
“My teammates always ask me defensive strategies, what secrets do you know about them,” Olivia said. “I say, ‘He doesn’t tell me anything.’
“We don’t talk the morning of the game. I saw him in the hallway of my house, and we just talked about the weather and then went our separate ways.”
Olivia freely admitted she would have loved to win that game. The midfielder had a chance to in the second half, but her 40-yard free kick missed the left post by a couple of yards. She had an interesting take on her relationship with soccer and her father.
“People know my name, but I want to make a name for myself, so that’s what I’ve been working on this season -- not just being Guy Callipari’s daughter but making him Olivia Callipari’s dad,” Olivia said. “But I wouldn’t be anywhere without him. He’s led me the whole way through, so I’m thankful for that."
Guy Callipari, who guided the Tigers to a runner-up state finish in 2002, knows the other coaches well. He played soccer with Pete Lambert and former Waubonsie Valley coach Angelo DiBernardo in a men’s league in the 1990s. But while Pete Lambert coached his kids in club until they were 16, Callipari chose to stop earlier.
Went their own ways
“I’ve coached all three of my kids until they were 11,” said Guy Callipari, whose oldest son, Cam, 21, played at Batavia and is now a pre-med student at Loyola of Chicago, and whose youngest son, Braden, a Batavia sophomore, plays for the Chicago Fire Academy. “At that point I thought it was important that I kind of back away because I thought criticism and instruction were complicated, coming from a parent. It was hard for them to distinguish whether it was a player-coach or dad-child relationship.
“But I can see where, if by the time they were high school level, they would be mature enough to understand the difference again. I can see other coaches, like Joe, where it works.”
Guy Callipari said it is strange to coach against Olivia, but is pleased with her success at Batavia.
“I’m just happy for her,” Guy said. “She’s in a good program. She has a large nucleus of players that continue to play alongside of her. They grew up playing together, so the senior class has been together for a long time.
“They’re an exciting team to watch. (Batavia coach) Mark (Gianfrancesco) has done a great job with them in orchestrating and building some continuity in what they do. I’ve seen so many players from my side of the fence grow from that experience, and now I can see her growth through her eyes too, how she experiences it. So being at this level with her, even though we’re not on the same team, has been a nice run.”
Guy Callipari is one of the most articulate and erudite coaches around, so it should come as no surprise that he’s been able to separate his roles as coach and dad.
“He’s separated it very well,” Olivia said. “He doesn’t go easy on me at all. He pushes me to my limit and beyond, so it’s good.
“The best advice he’s given me is, ‘There is always going to be someone better than you, but work harder and you’ll go farther.’ ”
Luck of the draw
Guy Callipari called the scoreless tie with Olivia’s team “poetic justice” because neither won.
In a neat twist of fate, the Lamberts will experience some poetic justice Tuesday when Waubonsie Valley meets Oswego East in the first round of the playoffs. One of them will have to lose, but Pete will be a winner because, one way or the other, he is assured of seeing Miranda’s last high school game.
So, too, will Joe Moreau and Ed Watson. And as bittersweet as it will be for them to no longer coach their daughters, so, too, will their offspring miss being coached by their dads.
“It’s really sad thinking about this will be the last time he’ll be my coach because he’s coached me since (park district), a little bit in club and now in high school, so it will different playing in a new state,” Sophia Moreau said. “I’ll be in Ohio, so it’s not even like I’m close, and playing for a different coach will definitely be interesting.
“But at the same time I think it will be good to take the things I’ve learned from him to a new team.”
The daughters have grown up and are moving on to new challenges, but the bond they have with their fathers, strengthened as it was by soccer, is unbreakable.
“Our relationship is not defined by soccer,” Ed Watson noted. “Our relationship is enhanced by soccer.”
Four families learn to strike a delicate soccer balance
By Matt Le Cren
Joe Moreau, Ed Watson, Guy Callipari and Pete Lambert have all coached in at least one state championship game.
That’s not the only thing they have in common.
All four veteran DuPage County area coaches have daughters who are finishing their senior seasons playing either for or against them.
Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau coaches his daughter Sophia, while Watson does the same with his daughter Grace at Naperville Central.
Wheaton Warrenville South boss Guy Callipari’s daughter Olivia plays for Batavia, which played the Tigers to a 0-0 tie on May 9.
Lambert, an assistant coach under Julie Bergstrom at Waubonsie Valley, has two daughters who play for Oswego East; Miranda is a senior and Maddie is a sophomore.
Parents and offspring of all four families have been intertwined with one another for decades, and their shared experiences represent an interesting mix of approaches and results for both generations.
Sophia Moreau and Grace Watson have been together since they were babies. As toddlers, they played in the sand of the long-jump pits at Naperville Central’s Memorial Stadium when the state finals were held there in the late 1990s.
That was during an era when their fathers were at the height of their success. Ed Watson coached Naperville Central to second-place finishes in 1994-95, and the following year Joe Moreau won the first of five-straight state titles at St. Charles.
Moreau’s wife, Angela, was pregnant with Sophia during the 1996 finals at Conant.
“I remember looking up in the crowd watching Angela pace back and forth and thinking, ‘Who is that lady up there?’ ” Joe Moreau recalled. “'Oh, that’s my wife.' We beat Sandburg that day.”
Angela Moreau and Ed Watson’s wife, Barb, got to know each other while looking after their daughters during the state finals at Naperville Central.
“There were a lot of games where (the kids) were palling around, just running around, two little girls having a good time while their dads were dealing with high school girls,” Ed Watson said.
Pluses and minuses
The dads are still dealing with high school girls, a group that now includes their daughters. For all their shared history, Sophia Moreau and Grace Watson have experienced the advantages and disadvantages of playing for their fathers in different ways.
Sophia Moreau is one of the top center backs in the area. She has been on varsity for four seasons, the last three as a starter, and will continue playing at Bowling Green.
Even though her father, who came to Neuqua Valley in 2003 and was an assistant coach on the Wildcats’ 2005 state title team before becoming head coach the following year, is one of the most successful coaches in Illinois history, she wasn’t always focused exclusively on soccer.
“She played travel softball and competitive basketball and she danced when she was real young,” Joe Moreau said. “Soccer was her favorite.”
But not because her father coached.
“I started playing soccer pretty much as early as you can start, but I didn’t really take it seriously,” Sophia said. “My mom and dad never forced me to play. They gave me the option to play whatever sport I wanted.
“I didn’t really like soccer, and I tried to rebel against it, so I played softball and basketball. But then I started realizing that I actually like this sport, not because it was around me all the time but because I started to enjoy it myself because nobody forced me to play.
“I kind of learned to like it without it being thrust upon me, so I think it was in middle school when I started being more serious about it, like thinking about maybe playing at the next level.”
Like most father-coaches, Joe Moreau said he has to guard against being too critical of his daughter.
“It’s been tough on her at times because I’m probably harder on her than anyone,” Joe said. “I yell at her maybe a little bit more. My expectations may be a little bit higher for her.
Can't play favorites
Those expectations are naturally higher because every coach has to deal with people who say they play favorites with their own kids. That was the case for both the Moreaus and the Watsons.
Sophia Moreau soon proved the doubters wrong, earning all-conference honors last year and the scholarship to Bowling Green.
“Making varsity as a freshman, there are always naysayers saying it’s because of your dad, but it was never kids who played with her (who said it),” Joe said. “They realized she belonged there; it was always kids who weren’t on the team (who were negative). She’s handled it well.”
Sophia’s strong sense of independencae helped her cope. She has known since fifth grade that she wants to be a commercial pilot. She already flies a two-seat Cessna 152 and hopes to earn her pilot’s license later this year.
“Playing for my dad is kind of hard because he’s tough on me, and hearing everyone else make comments like, ‘Oh, she’s only on the team because of him.’ So having to play through that is difficult,” Sophia said. “But I think it helps that he does watch me every day at practice so that on the weekends you can go out and practice something that I need to work on. It’s like I have a teacher at home.”
Grace Watson has two teachers at home and school. Her mother teaches Spanish at Naperville Central, so she never gets away from her parents.
But her talent level and high school experience are different from Sophia Moreau’s. Grace, a reserve forward, did not make the varsity until her junior year and plays sparingly. She got teased because of her father’s position, but for a different reason.
“Oh, yeah, I went through that freshman year,” Grace said. “Because I wasn’t on varsity I got, ‘Oh, you’re not good because your dad didn’t put you on his team and he’s the head coach.’”
So is being the coach’s kid a no-win situation?
“I think either way you’re going to get it,” Grace said. “Like junior year I got, ‘Oh, you’re on the team because of your dad.’
“Players think that and some people who don’t even play soccer, like boys at our school, will say things like that, but you can’t let it get to you because you’ve played soccer your whole life, so at some point you earned it.”
Takes on liaison role
In one respect, Grace Watson has a unique view of the game from spending so much time sitting on the bench. While she will not play in college, she does harbor aspirations of being a coach and serves as an unofficial go-between with her teammates and father.
“Coming into high school, I think a lot of the girls realized that he’s my dad and sometimes if somebody isn’t too willing to step up and say something, I’m always the one that kind of gets pushed into that position,” Grace said.
Grace Watson is the only one of the daughters who is not a star player, but she said that will help her be a better coach.
“I’m more of a mental player,” Grace said. “I don’t have the skills to do everything that some of the girls do, but when I’m on the bench I notice a lot of things and I think I help in the way I direct people if they’re not sure what’s going on, and I pick up on plays really fast.”
Being a coach’s daughter has helped, too.
“I like having him as my coach,” Grace said. “When we go home, the talk of soccer doesn’t stop. Like the other night at dinner he stood up and showed me what I should have done at practice differently.
“The learning of soccer never really stops, and I like that. It helps me become a better mental player.”
Grace Watson will attend Illinois State and major in education, planning to follow her parents into teaching, perhaps special education. Her father is impressed with her knowledge.
“There are times where she and I talk about the game, not the game that she’s necessarily playing,” Ed said. “She’s been keeping our book and sitting on our bench off and on since fifth grade, so here’s somebody who has been watching the game at the varsity level and listening to the girls and the coaches on the sideline talk about what should be happening for many more years than most varsity players would ever get. So she certainly has an understanding of the game beyond most other high school players.”
Grace is the youngest of three siblings. Her brothers Michael, 24, and Steven, 23, also played for their dad.
“It’s been a lot of fun coaching Grace because she had an opportunity to watch me coach my two sons, and she has had a much easier time dealing with me as coach and dad,” Ed said. “I think the other thing that made it easier was I learned a lot of lessons coaching my boys in soccer and baseball.
“One of the big things I told her was that I am always your dad and when you are done with me being your coach, you just need to say, ‘I need you to be my dad.’ And she was strong enough to be able to do that, and I was smart enough to know to be quiet and just be her dad.”
While Grace shares her parents’ desire to make a difference through teaching and coaching, she is a neat amalgamation of her parents’ qualities.
“I think she has the best combination of her mother and of her father,” Ed said. “If she was only like me, that would be awful, but she’s got the kindheartedness of her mother, so she can temper the harshness that comes from me.”
And the negatives?
“She’s got her mother’s height, which soccerwise is unfortunate,” Ed quipped. “Some people claim that I roll my eyes at people, and I’ve occasionally caught her doing that as well.”
Keeping things light
Ed Watson and Joe Moreau share a sarcastic sense of humor that neither is afraid to use when their teams perform poorly. But they are both self-deprecating.
“Sophia has her mom’s height and beauty, but she’s got my sense of humor,” said Joe Moreau, who added all three things are a positive. (Sophia stands 5-foot-10.)
Unlike the Watsons, the Moreaus try not to take soccer home with them.
“We don’t talk a whole lot about soccer at home unless she brings it up and asks questions,” Joe Moreau said. “We’ll watch games together, EPL games or women’s games on TV, and she’ll ask questions. But for the most part at home I’m her dad.
Being an only child, Sophia has learned to rely on herself.
“She’s pretty confident in herself. She’s a very independent person. She’s known since fifth grade what she wants to do with her life.”
The Moreaus have also known the Lamberts for years. Joe Moreau and Pete Lambert both coach for the Team Chicago club team, for which their daughters play.
Miranda Lambert, who is Oswego East’s leading scorer and will play for Kent State in the fall, can relate to Sophia Moreau. Pete Lambert coached both girls for years.
“I think that it really has been great having him as my coach,” Miranda Lambert said. “He’s made me the soccer player that I am today, and I wouldn’t have had all these amazing opportunities without him helping me.”
That’s not to say everything is always rosy.
“There are positives in the fact that we have a lot of time to bond because of soccer, whether it was driving to games or working in the back yard,” Miranda said. “But there was also negatives because if he’s coaching and you lose, he can get mad and (take it out on you). He’s really tough on me because he wants me to be the best I can be.”
Pete Lambert, who has a third daughter, 11-year-old Mikayla, would have loved to coach his daughters at the high school level but couldn't afford to move into Waubonsie Valley’s district. Still, he cherishes the time he gets to spend with them.
“The neatest thing is to be able to travel with them, spend one-on-one time with them on car rides and plane trips,” Lambert said. “You become open with each other having conversations about life and soccer and telling jokes. That was pretty rewarding for me.
"I’m going to cry like a little boy when I drop (Miranda) off for college.”
Not always easy
But coaching your offspring isn’t as easy as it might seem.
“Coaching your kid is one of the hardest things, and it’s really hard on them,” Lambert said. “I think one of the most difficult things is it’s hard to just be a dad. I’m proud (Miranda) has played all four years of high school soccer with all the pressure of being a coach's kid. She loves the high school environment, and I love having my daughter playing high school.”
One thing parents and children don’t love is having to play against each other, which has been the case for the Lamberts and the Calliparis.
The Lamberts experienced it two years ago in a first-round playoff game when Waubonsie Valley eliminated Oswego East. They both, in separate conversations, described it the same way.
“That was the weirdest feeling ever,” Lambert said. “I’m rooting for my daughter on the one hand and at the same time I’m coaching my team.”
“It was a weird situation,” Miranda said. “He’s my dad, so he’s always trying to cheer for me, but then he had to cheer for his own team. I totally get it. It was his job.”
Olivia Callipari, who like Miranda aspires to be a physical therapist, helped Batavia beat Wheaton Warrenville South 2-0 two years ago and faced Guy for the final time last Saturday, when the Tigers and Bulldogs played to a 0-0 tie.
“My teammates always ask me defensive strategies, what secrets do you know about them,” Olivia said. “I say, ‘He doesn’t tell me anything.’
“We don’t talk the morning of the game. I saw him in the hallway of my house, and we just talked about the weather and then went our separate ways.”
Olivia freely admitted she would have loved to win that game. The midfielder had a chance to in the second half, but her 40-yard free kick missed the left post by a couple of yards. She had an interesting take on her relationship with soccer and her father.
“People know my name, but I want to make a name for myself, so that’s what I’ve been working on this season -- not just being Guy Callipari’s daughter but making him Olivia Callipari’s dad,” Olivia said. “But I wouldn’t be anywhere without him. He’s led me the whole way through, so I’m thankful for that."
Guy Callipari, who guided the Tigers to a runner-up state finish in 2002, knows the other coaches well. He played soccer with Pete Lambert and former Waubonsie Valley coach Angelo DiBernardo in a men’s league in the 1990s. But while Pete Lambert coached his kids in club until they were 16, Callipari chose to stop earlier.
Went their own ways
“I’ve coached all three of my kids until they were 11,” said Guy Callipari, whose oldest son, Cam, 21, played at Batavia and is now a pre-med student at Loyola of Chicago, and whose youngest son, Braden, a Batavia sophomore, plays for the Chicago Fire Academy. “At that point I thought it was important that I kind of back away because I thought criticism and instruction were complicated, coming from a parent. It was hard for them to distinguish whether it was a player-coach or dad-child relationship.
“But I can see where, if by the time they were high school level, they would be mature enough to understand the difference again. I can see other coaches, like Joe, where it works.”
Guy Callipari said it is strange to coach against Olivia, but is pleased with her success at Batavia.
“I’m just happy for her,” Guy said. “She’s in a good program. She has a large nucleus of players that continue to play alongside of her. They grew up playing together, so the senior class has been together for a long time.
“They’re an exciting team to watch. (Batavia coach) Mark (Gianfrancesco) has done a great job with them in orchestrating and building some continuity in what they do. I’ve seen so many players from my side of the fence grow from that experience, and now I can see her growth through her eyes too, how she experiences it. So being at this level with her, even though we’re not on the same team, has been a nice run.”
Guy Callipari is one of the most articulate and erudite coaches around, so it should come as no surprise that he’s been able to separate his roles as coach and dad.
“He’s separated it very well,” Olivia said. “He doesn’t go easy on me at all. He pushes me to my limit and beyond, so it’s good.
“The best advice he’s given me is, ‘There is always going to be someone better than you, but work harder and you’ll go farther.’ ”
Luck of the draw
Guy Callipari called the scoreless tie with Olivia’s team “poetic justice” because neither won.
In a neat twist of fate, the Lamberts will experience some poetic justice Tuesday when Waubonsie Valley meets Oswego East in the first round of the playoffs. One of them will have to lose, but Pete will be a winner because, one way or the other, he is assured of seeing Miranda’s last high school game.
So, too, will Joe Moreau and Ed Watson. And as bittersweet as it will be for them to no longer coach their daughters, so, too, will their offspring miss being coached by their dads.
“It’s really sad thinking about this will be the last time he’ll be my coach because he’s coached me since (park district), a little bit in club and now in high school, so it will different playing in a new state,” Sophia Moreau said. “I’ll be in Ohio, so it’s not even like I’m close, and playing for a different coach will definitely be interesting.
“But at the same time I think it will be good to take the things I’ve learned from him to a new team.”
The daughters have grown up and are moving on to new challenges, but the bond they have with their fathers, strengthened as it was by soccer, is unbreakable.
“Our relationship is not defined by soccer,” Ed Watson noted. “Our relationship is enhanced by soccer.”