The culture of a sports team is often more important than the skill level of all the players themselves. It’s a team’s attitudes, relationships, and goals for competition that help them achieve success on and off the court reaching winning records and district championships. Brittany Chonko, Coach Chonko from the Central Bucks West girls’ basketball team, coached the team to a winning record all five years she was there and was on the sidelines when they won the district championship during the 2019-20 season. She knows all about this what makes a good team culture and how building relationships and bonds with her players impact their game on the court.

Being a teacher at Pennridge High School allows her to use the skills obtained in the classroom communicating with her students to then use on the court communicating with her players. She was a teacher before she was a coach, so she has learned a thing or two about teenagers. She has learned how their mind works, how they perceive things, and how they handle trials and tribulations in and out of school. Chonko quickly said, “I pride myself on how to talk to students and players.” In the classroom, sometimes students need the directions to be further explained. This translates over into practices when needing to explain a drill more thoroughly to the JV girls. Because Chonko has such an understanding of her players, she is able to form such strong relationships with them. 

Chonko reiterated many times how much she genuinely cares about her players and building those relationships. When asked about her most impactful moment as a coach, she described how amazing it is to see her players come in the summer before freshman year and getting to know them until they are a senior. Chonko mentioned how much she sees these girls go through from school to boyfriends to life to then getting accepted into college. “No one is just a number. Two and a half hours six days a week adds up”, said Chonko. It is very apparent how invested Coach Chonko is in developing her players. She loves working with the girls that need the most improvement because it has the most reward. 

With COVID-19, Coach Chonko has been upset at the loss of preseason bonding that usually goes on. “They are doing the best they can to combat the struggles they are facing from not meeting”, Chonko voiced. They have met on Google hangouts as a team, but this certainly doesn’t make up for the time lost in person. For her, it has even been hard with the new incoming freshman. As a coach, it’s difficult for her not to know as much about the girls as she usually would by this time in the season. Her love for coaching and the sport is apparent and anyone would be lucky to have a coach like Chonko.