Kelly Doton
Boston College
Head Coach Women’s Field Hockey
Doton became head coach of the Boston College field hockey program in 2015. She started as associate head coach at Boston College in 2012, and previously coached at Indiana University.
In Doton’s four seasons, Boston College has posted double-digit wins each year and has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons (2013-2015).
A 2004 graduate of Wake Forest, Doton was an asset to the Demon Deacons on both sides of the ball during her collegiate career, helping to lead her squad to back-to-back NCAA championships.
In addition to being named the ACC Player of the Year in 2002, she was also a two-time NFHCA First-Team All-American and a three-time All-ACC honoree during her career.
In addition to her collegiate playing experience, Doton was a member of the U.S. Women’s Senior National Team from 2005-10. In 2008, she was part of the U.S. squad that traveled to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
What is your best piece of advice to a girls youth coach?
Honesty is the best coaching approach. Criticism is never easy to hear and some young female coaches have a tendency to sugar coat coaching when it comes to things players can improve on. I hear a lot of youth coaches who acknowledge and congratulate athletes for things that shouldn’t be commended. In my opinion, that is validating bad play as acceptable. It’s the blue-ribbon society we live in where kids are getting a trophy just for playing. Be fair, be honest, and be open to the players. Treat your number 1 player on your depth chart just the same as the one sitting in last place.
For Kelly Doton’s team building exercise for selecting team captains, please read How to Coach Girls coming out March of 2018.
p.s. To learn more about How To Coach Girls, check out Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. It’s available for purchase here.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
To examine our print book more closely at Amazon, please click on image of book. Our ebook version with 3 bonus chapters is here.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.