Tye brings wealth of experience to women’s soccer roster

Cindy Tye is no stranger to the game of soccer.

Her resume includes a plethora of accomplishments as both a player and coach – including two AUAA conference titles as a member of the Acadia Axewomen between 1990-95 – as well as leading Team Nova Scotia to a fourth-place finish at the 2013 Summer Games in Sherbrooke, Q.C.

With over two decades of combined high-performance experience, it should come as no surprise that Tye was high on the Dalhousie Tigers list of possible candidates when the women’s soccer head coaching position became available early in 2016.

After going through the selection process and taking the appropriate amount of time to ponder, the National B level coach ultimately accepted the job.

Tye began her coaching duties at the start of April, noting that one of the biggest challenges early on was establishing rapport with her players – both veterans and newcomers.

“We’re still working on it,” says Tye. “I knew some [of the players] from before so it was natural. For others it was just the acceptance that there was somebody different in the role, but the girls have been absolutely great.”

While this is Tye’s first opportunity to coach at the CIS level, her past experience as a university athlete is invaluable, especially considering the fact that 10 of the Tigers 23 players are entering their first year of eligibility.

“I’ve done that [being a student-athlete] before, so I know the balance that they have to create between their athletics, academics and social lives, so I think I bring that experience in being able to relate to them that way, I think that helps a lot.”

A member of the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame, Tye’s day job when she’s not immersed in the soccer community is as a high school teacher at Hants West Rural High School – a position she’s held since 1997. Tye has taken a leave of absence for the duration of the soccer season however, yet again displaying her commitment to the sport and its players.

One value that Tye has relied on heavily in the past as a coach is growth mindset and being able to gradually improve every day through encouragement and support.

“Growth mindset is having your mind open to hear something that you need to improve on and being able to take that information in and do it,” says Tye.

“A lot of times when I’m delivering information it’s with energy, but it’s with positive energy so they can feel that I’m with them and we’re trying to make you better.”

Just four games into the season, Tye’s growth mindset approach appears to be resonating with her players. Sunday’s 1-1 tie against a strong StFX team proved as a great example, as the squad picked up their first point of the 2016-17 campaign.

While the result was a step in the right direction for the women, Tye was pleased with the attitude her team exuded postgame.

“There was a bit of a reserve, thinking that this is not it – it’s great – but let’s keep going, so I liked that.” says Tye.

This weekend, the Tigers will head on the road to face both UPEI and Moncton, hoping to build extended momentum and continue to grow as a cohesive unit.

“In terms of results, we haven’t talked too, too much about it, but we’ve made sure we talk about getting better every day, because we do have a very young group.”

While the latter may be true, it appears that Tye’s enthusiasm and commitment have already begun to resonate with her players, which bodes well not just for this season, but years to come as well.

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