Coach of the week: Patrick Jacklin
Bob Jones High School girls’ soccer varsity coach Patrick Jacklin has been coaching at Bob Jones for the past 16 years and has been coaching soccer for the past 20 years.
Jacklin is one of 9 children. He said that his siblings are some of his favorite people in the world. He and his wife have seven children.
Jacklin owns Triad Packaging, Inc. in Athens, which is a corrugated packaging manufacturing plant.
Q-What sports did you play growing up?
A-As far as organized sports, I mostly played soccer growing up in the Washington, DC area. I played some organized basketball, and a lot of playground basketball, which the DC area is famous for. I played soccer through my junior year of high school at Bladensburg High School in Bladensburg, MD. I moved to Madison the summer after my junior year, and enrolled at Bob Jones. They didn’t even have a soccer ball, and no one had played. When people ask me if I played for Bob Jones, I always joke that we played in P.E. once, but I had to bring the ball. I quit playing from the time I was 17 until I was 34, and then began playing again in the HASL, Huntsville Adult Soccer League. I played for various team for the next 10 years or so.
Q-What brought you to Madison?
A-My father retired from National Security Agency at Ft. Meade, MD, and wanted to move south to retire. He took a road trip south to look for a good place to move to, and came home and said, “We are moving to Alabama!” That went over like a lead balloon. It turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. I love Madison and I love the South.
Q-What made you passionate about soccer?
A-I don’t know if it is a passion for soccer as much as a passion for coaching. When I was a younger man, I coached a basketball team in the winter, 2 soccer teams, a softball team in the spring and 2 soccer teams in the fall. Soccer is the sport I played the most, and that I understand the most. Besides high school, I have coached youth soccer over the past couple of years and the young players are a lot of fun.
Q-Have you won any titles?
A-I have only been the varsity coach at Bob Jones for 4 years. I believe that we had the best JV team in the state a year or 2 during my 9 years as the JV coach, but there is no playoff system for that. This year we got to the quarterfinals and lost in double overtime. I did take a club team to the AYSA state finals in 2003. I coached an amazing group of girls’ basketball players to the Huntsville Independent School League Varsity championship in 1995.
Q-What is your favorite part about coaching?
A- The players, especially the ones who just love the sport that they are playing. You always get a few players on any team who are so motivated, so coachable and hard-working. It is great to watch them grow as players and as people. It is great to see the success that they earn with their hard work. I have had the opportunity to coach some players for a span covering 8-10 years, and it is great to be a small part of their lives and watch them grow from children to young men and women. One of the neatest experiences that I have had is when the daughter of one of my players from the early years at Bob Jones came to our Lady Patriot Soccer Camp. I also have a couple of former players who are coaching soccer at the high school level.
The Bob Jones soccer tryouts for the 2011-2012 season will be held in November.
