By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Heather Farlow was certainly in the right place at the right time.
The veteran field hockey coach recently relocated back to New Jersey and was looking for a head coaching position.
Princeton Day School was suddenly looking for a head coach when Tracy Arndt let the Panthers know she could no longer make room in her busy schedule to commit to coaching at the school.
And thus, a perfect match was created.
“I relocated back to the area last year and I had been into coaching at PDS but at the time nothing was open,” said Farlow, a Rutgers University graduate who is originally from Delaware. “I found out this summer they had an opening and applied. I knew it was a great school and great opportunity. It worked out well.”
After her career as a player at Rutgers, Farlow spent several years coaching in Texas and last year coached in New York City. Now she is back in her old stomping grounds and preparing for the season with PDS.
“I had been in Texas after I went to Rutgers,” Farlow said. “I came back because I wanted to be closer to family. After grad school I took a job in Dallas I was a varsity coach at an independent school that was similar to PDS. I was there 12 years and built up a program there and then I was at another school in Houston for a year and decided I wanted to be closer to home.”
Farlow brings over a decade of head coaching experience to the Panthers, who are looking to build with a young squad after graduating just three seniors.
“One of the reasons I went to Texas was I had an opportunity to be a varsity coach right away,” Farlow said. “When you are 25 you’re so excited about stuff. I was right out of grad school and wanted to be a head coach.”
Now she’ll have her first opportunity to be a head coach in New Jersey, helping to continue the strong tradition of success the sport has at PDS.
“I’ve had about a week and a half so far and it has been really good,” said Farlow, whose team will open the season on Tuesday against Princeton High. “The girls are working hard. We’ve asked them to play a lot of different positions and be open to a new way of doing things and they have been great.
“We have five seniors this year but we’re still pretty young. I have a couple players who seem pretty new to the game and some that have played in middle school and through the upper school program.”
The Panthers didn’t win many games a year ago, but for Farlow the measure of success will be based on getting better each day and not necessarily wins and losses.
“We have set a goal of improving throughout practice from one to the next and one game to the next,” she said. “It is not about how you start but how we end in late October and early November. We want to access what we do well and what we need to improve on and capitalize on our strengths. We have not emphasized winning and losing.”
Farlow has been thrilled with the support she has received from the PDS community and knows there are plenty of resources around campus to help her in her new role.
“Jill Thomas used to be the varsity coach and still coaches in the middle school so I am eager to sit down with her and talk to her and pick her brain and get some insight from her vast coaching experience. I caught her in the hall and said I want to sit down with you and talk.”
With just a few days left to prepare before the season officially begins, Farlow is ready for the whatever lies ahead.
“We open with Princeton and I hear that will be a challenge,” she said. “It’s tough to start that way but it will show you everything you have to work on rather quickly. It’s so good to have a game like that because the kids will see it right away. It’s a great teachable moment to open with a team that is considered to be one of the best.”
