Girls Squash Coach (Upper and Middle School Athletics)
The School
At Greens Farms Academy (GFA), students are empowered to do the hard, thrilling, essential work of shaping their own world, of building their own future. More than 700 PreK -12 students come from 23 towns in Fairfield and Westchester counties and form a joyful community that aspires to live by the school's motto, "Each for All." Founded in 1925, GFA is situated on a former Vanderbilt estate in a scenic 44-acre campus located in Westport, CT. The school’s highly regarded academic program is built around small class sizes (average 15), mentoring partnership with faculty (8:1 student to teacher ratio), and innovative programs designed to support students’ pursuit of questions that matter to them. The faculty is characterized by its growth mindset, embracing innovation, exploring a range of student-centered approaches, and constantly seeking to better serve its students.
A stunning waterfront campus in Westport, CT, comprises three ecosystems - a salt marsh, Audubon woodlands, and the Long Island Sound - and architecture ranging from a modernized Vanderbilt estate to a state-of-the-art center for arts and global studies. GFA has graduated thousands of compassionate, enterprising, broad-minded women and men - people with the courage and vision to build a better world. The GFA mission plays an essential role in school life: GFA engages students as partners in an innovative, inclusive, and globally-minded community to prepare them for lives of purpose. Faculty and staff have committed that language to memory, along with our core values -- passion, integrity, empathy, curiosity, excellence -- so as to better live out the spirit of those words.
GFA is a suburban school close to major transportation and a five-minute walk from the Greens Farms Metro-North train station. The campus sits on the Long Island Sound, a half-hour south of New Haven and an hour north of New York City by car or commuter train.
The Position
Greens Farms Academy, an independent day school in Westport, Connecticut, is seeking an experienced and energetic Girls Upper and Middle School Squash Coach who is passionate about educating students in a fashion that embodies and reflects the core values of our school. This role will partner with Athletics & Physical Education staff to establish and maintain high standards of play and conduct for student-athletes, to provide a roadmap for squash development for Upper and Middle School squash players of varying skill and interest levels in the sport, and to imbue these students with pride, joy, and a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves.
The ideal candidates will have experience coaching children and mentoring youth athletes at all ages and levels (beginners to Gold Level players); great energy and passion for the sport and for teaching; a desire to join and belong to a community of coaches and educators; outstanding communication skills; and, the discipline to align their work with GFA’s mission and core values. This is most likely a seasonal, part-time position and long distance travel is rare.
Essential Functions:
● Participate in all aspects of the Squash program, including but not exclusively the following:
○ Thoughtful development of a team culture that is empowering to student-athletes and promotes discipline, joy, and aspiration to accomplish individual and team goals
○ Develop and execute thoughtful, organized practices and skill-development sessions that educate students on strategies, techniques being employed at the game’s highest levels
○ Develop and instruct student-athletes to execute strategies in-game
○ Promote players for local, state, and national recognition, and to colleges as applicable
● Engage in the promotion of GFA to prospective students interested in playing squash
● Other duties as assigned by the Director of Squash and the Athletics Administrative Team
Qualifications
● A Bachelor’s Degree or advanced degree from an accredited college or university
● Availability from November 2024 through February 2025 on weekday afternoons and evenings, with occasional availability for events on weekends
● Successful experience as a youth squash coach
Please send a cover letter and resume to: jharris@gfacademy.org. Interested candidates who are qualified to be considered for a faculty or staff position at GFA are encouraged to apply; current employment opportunities may be found here.
