Coaches feature: Sharon Wolfe

Tony Altobelli

Sharon Wolfe and Newport Harbor High have a secret that they are

more than willing to share with the public.

Wolfe is a field hockey coach for the Sailors. Yes, field hockey.

“It’s not really all that well known in this part of California,” she

said. “It’s big all over the country and in Northern California as well

as the San Diego area. It’s starting to grow now with the junior high

programs as well as more high school programs.”

Actually, field hockey was fairly big around here for years until

another sport took over.

“AYSO became the big sport for girls to play,” Wolfe said. “After

that, the sport started to lose popularity around here.”

A native Californian, Wolfe grew up in the area and graduated from

Newport Harbor in 1975 and was a serious sportsaholic.

“I was a serious tomboy,” Wolfe admitted. “I played all the sports,

volleyball, field hockey, basketball and soccer.”

From Harbor, Wolfe attended OCC where she played for the Pirates for

both seasons, then moved on to Long Beach State.

But it was coaching, not playing, that was Wolfe’s biggest passion.

“I knew from about junior high that I wanted to be a coach,” Wolfe

said. “I played for a coach named Joan Nelson and the way she handled the

athletes really made want to pursue that career.”

In her 20-plus years of coaching, Wolfe has coached basketball and

softball, as well as field hockey at schools like Estancia, OCC and

Garden Grove before landing at Newport.

“I’m the kind of person that likes a challenge,” she said. “Honestly,

if something gets routine for me, I like to move on and try another

obstacle.”

While at Newport, Wolfe has guided the Sailors to the CIF playoffs

numerous times, including her first season.

“We went all the way to the semifinals and faced always-tough Bonita,”

Wolfe said. “Every year, something happens to make it special.”

Wolfe describes herself as a player’s coach, someone that gives the

player an opportunity to play whenever possible.

“I try to look at the entire program when it comes to coaching, not

just the ‘star players,’ ” Wolfe said. “If you’re good enough to make it

on our program, you will get to play. Even during playoff time, I’ve been

known to bring up junior varsity players and let them play at the varsity

level just to give them that experience that will help them down the

road.”

According to herself, Wolfe is also the kind of coach that allows

mutual communication, most of the time.

“I’m always open to ideas,” she said. “Sometimes, when you’re playing,

you see different things on the field then you would on the sidelines.

“I consider myself to be fair, honest and very demanding. If I have to

yell to get a point across, I will. Plus, since I don’t yell all that

often, the players really listen.”

Coaching the Sailors has fulfilled a dream of Wolfe, but it’s not

necessarily the last place she’ll ever coach.

“When I graduated from here, I set a goal to someday come back here

and be a coach,” she said. “I wanted to give something back to the school

that gave me so much. I’ll probably stay in Southern California forever,

but perhaps I might want to move out of the area and try something new.”

Wolfe is single and resides in Costa Mesa.