Coach Dave Hall on Building a Great Team

What makes a great team?
 
An environment where everyone shares the same goal and is willing to work together to achieve this success.
 
“We all are simply working hard for improvement, and it pretty much boils down to this philosophy at Davidson Day,” says Coach Dave Hall, who heads the varsity cross country and varsity track and field teams.

“A team consists of individuals who are willing to work toward a goal,” says Hall, “individuals who are interested in and committed to the process, not just in enjoying the outcome.”

According to Hall, a team is made of individual commitment, effort, and patience—and that’s also how a great athletic program is built. The role of a coach, says Hall, is to harness and direct a student athlete’s focus to help them commit, expend effort, and persevere when facing challenges. And that’s done through trust and developing athletes over time—sometimes multiple seasons.

“We’re building relationships with our student-athletes,” says Hall, “and we’re teaching important skills that translate beyond athletics.”

Joining Davidson Day

“Davidson Day students were unique,” says Hall. “I could tell they were strong student-athletes who wanted to do well, who wanted to try hard.” That’s what ultimately sold him on taking the coaching position and joining the faculty as an English teacher in the Upper School.

But his career began much earlier, following his own collegiate running experience as an All-American at Brevard College.

After graduating from Furman University, Coach Hall joined the UNC Charlotte staff as the coach of Men’s Cross Country program. During his twenty-year tenure at the university, Hall oversaw the addition of Women’s Cross Country and Men’s and Women’s Track and Field. He was awarded Conference Coach of the year five times during his tenure at UNCC—and he is held in high esteem by former collegiate athletes.

When he was ready for a change, Hall welcomed an opportunity to join the faculty of a middle school in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system, teaching English, and later joined the newly opened Bailey Middle School.

In 2010, Hall became part of the coaching staff at Davidson Day after one of his former assistant coaches, Tim Weir, was hired as the school’s athletic director and recruited Hall to join the staff.

At that time, the school was also searching for an upper school English teacher, and Mr. Michael Smith expanded Hall’s role to fill that vacancy.

Building a program

Within his first few years at Davidson Day, Hall built a successful cross country and track program, led by strong individual runners like multi-time state champion Melissa Zammitti. Under Hall’s direction, Davidson Day teams twice finished second in the state and also won a state championship in track and field.

“I’m just as proud of the years where we haven’t achieved championship-level results,” said Hall. “It’s really about working with student-athletes and helping them learn to focus on a larger goal and then how to persevere when things get tough.”

That experience and those acquired skills translate beyond any athletic program, believes Hall.

“Building mental toughness carries through life, and it is difficult to learn,” says Hall, “but it can be developed through cross country and track.”
Coach Hall was joined by Coach Donald Cameron in 2014, and together, they have deepened the program, furthering Davidson Day’s reputation of competitiveness.

“We see eye-to-eye on everything,” says Hall, “and he has the mindset of a true competitor.”

“Coach Cameron has been a critical part of our teams and our program,” says Hall. Coach Cameron is retiring at the end of this academic year. “We’ll miss him and his perspective and coaching,” says Hall.

Coaching in our community

Both Coach Hall and Coach Cameron also work with student-athletes in the classroom, where the benefits of Davidson Day are clear.

“Davidson Day students are so accepting of other students with varying backgrounds and experiences, and with different interests,” says Hall. “The welcoming community and the willingness of students to try something new is one of the main reasons student-athletes succeed here.”

At Davidson Day, 23 of the 29 head coaches and 14 of the 17 assistant coaches are also faculty members who teach, mentor, and advise upper school students.

“Our coaches take a similar approach and operate with a shared belief in bringing out the best in our student-athletes,” says Hall. “We all understand the important balance between academics and athletic success.”

Parents also play an important role in a student-athlete’s development, says Hall; they can best support an interest in any of Davidson Day’s athletic programs by reinforcing their student’s commitment. According to Hall, student-athletes must be encouraged to complete a full season in their chosen sport, and to work hard and persevere when training becomes difficult.

Davidson Day is primed to join a new athletic conference as a charter member of the Foothills Athletic Conference for the 2019–2020 season, and Hall is thrilled.

“We really needed to establish a high level of competitiveness before the state meet,” says Hall, “and we’ll get that competing in the FAC, which gives every coach and every athlete more incentive to work and improve.”
 
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